North Carolina Yankee and azmagic,
McVain had hinted to Shadegg and Flake that he might be retiring and they both wanted to take the seat he currently occupies.
I must admit that I know Shadegg and his father, and much prefer him to 'da flake.'
Magic,
McCain hates conservatives with a passion and will attack them (after the elections) at every opportunity. He doesn't need an excuse. He's currently on what for him is reasonably good behavior because he is afraid of losing the primary.
One of the reasons why Obama is pushing 'immigration reform' next year is to put McCain on the griddle. If he again supports amnesty, he will lose the primary.
Your take on JD is really weird. JD reminds me of George Putnam. He's not shrill, but a little bombastic at times.
In the manuvering for the Senate seat currently held by McCain, Shadegg would (in a two person primary) crush Flake by something like 2 to 1. Flake's only real base of support is those businesses that specialize in employing illegal aliens.
BTW, even Flake's uncle (the late State Senator) loathed him!
As to Kirkpatrick, what is less important that her opponent is that she is really angering her constituents. She has managed to get both the Hopi and Navajo united in opposition!!! As such, many people will simply vote for anyone but Kirkpatrick.
I read in Hayworth's book "Whatever it Takes" that Hayworth used to represent Native Americans in his district. However the current Az-05 doesn't have any Native Americans in it. So I assume they were taken out in redistricting. It said that it 1994 he performed horribly among them but by 2000 had increased his support considerably by attending to their needs and local issues. Where was this district previously located? Are any of them in the 1st now since it is a new district as of 2002.
Redistricting in Arizona has been a very interesting process.
If you look at the map for northeastern Arizona you will note the odity of the district lines, occasioned by an effort by the redistricting commission to seperate the Hopi and the Navajo.
Most districts have significant native american populations.
The major problem Republicans had with the various indian nations in Arizona occured in the 80s and 90s over gambling (a major source of revenue for the various indian nations).
Here;s the 2000 data on CD 1:
Ethnicity 65.8% White, 1.3% Black, 0.5% Asian, 16.4% Hispanic,
22.6% Native American, 7.5% other
The two major groupings in the "Native American" category are the Navajo and the Apache nations.
Addendum: It looks like former state legislator Rusty Bowers will be the Republican nominee for C.D. 1.
