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Opinion Guest Opinion: John Kromko Demos losing poor Hispanic voters who want effective border security Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.25.2006 In 2004, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200, which cut some social services for illegal aliens. While impacts of this proposition have been frequently debated, one profound aspect has been ignored: the poorer a voter was, the more they supported Prop. 200, regardless of ethnicity. In heavily Hispanic precincts, about 40 percent to 45 percent of voters voted for Prop. 200, about the same percentage that voted for Bush. If you're wealthy, an alien probably won't take your job or...

Poll results District 8, U.S. House Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat: 48.4% Randy Graf, Republican: 35.7% David Nolan, Libertarian: 1.4% Jay Quick, independent: 1.1% Undecided: 13.4% Margin of error of 3.9 percentage points. Survey of 600 likely voters in Congressional District 8 Sept. 16-19. Name the single most important issue when deciding whom to vote for: Border Control/Immigration: 45.8% War in Iraq: 10.7% Candidates' experience: 8.5% Party affiliation/Support for President Bush: 7.4% Health care: 7.2% Education: 5.8% Rate the importance of these issues when deciding whom to vote for: Important or very important Immigration: 82.3% War on terror: 82.2% War in...

Tucson Region National Demos pulling Dist. 8 ads Republicans earlier did the same in Graf-Giffords race By Daniel Scarpinato arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.23.2006 advertisement National Democrats, following the lead of their Republican counterparts, yanked money out of the District 8 congressional race Friday. The move indicates the diminished level of national influence and interest — at least for now — in what has long been considered a competitive race. On Thursday, the National Republican Congressional Committee made the first move by canceling plans to run nonstop advertising through the Nov. 7 election. Now, Democrat Gabrielle...

  PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2006: Primary School Lessons from last week's election By JIM NINTZEL Why did Randy Graf kick Steve Huffman's ass in the Congressional District 8 GOP primary? Huffman had plenty of advantages in this race: The backing of the business community, a campaign war chest packed with more than $670,000 (we'll be really interested in seeing the final spending figures when he files his next Federal Election Commission report), six-figure support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, the endorsement of outgoing Congressman Jim Kolbe and the general perception that he was the moderate alternative to...

SIERRA VISTA — Locals celebrated the U.S. Constitution’s 219th birthday on Sunday with patriotic music, ringing bells and saluting the flag. The Tombstone Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored the program, “Bells Across America,” held at Veterans’ Memorial Park. “We do this every year, Vicki L. Brown, Constitution Week chairwoman. She added schools and churches may also participate. Mayor Tom Hessler read a proclamation declaring Constitution Week, which is Sept. 17-23, as a small group — many wearing American flag pins or patriotic clothing — listened. Judy Jolley Waterman, DAR chaplain, read an invocation. She thanked God...

--Advertisement-- --Advertisement-- Evolving wisdom and original reporting from the staff of the Hotline « WH 08: "Run, Tom, Run" | Main | The Big Number: 30 » September 08, 2006 House Race Hotline Update: Huff Over Huffman An unusual GOP primary is taking place 9/12 in AZ 08, where the NRCC is attacking front-runner Randy Graf while the DCCC is rooting for him. Graf has a loyal base of support because of his hard-line stance on immigration. But many GOPers fear he's unelectable in the general. Instead, they're spending over $100K to back state Rep. Steve Huffman, who fits...

National GOP has no business in local race Our view: Its support of Huffman in the primary is a mistake that has backfired Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.09.2006 The National Republican Congressional Committee should have stayed out of the GOP primary race in the 8th Congressional District. Its support of candidate Steve Huffman sends the wrong message that national party leaders know better than locals who would be the best candidate for Congress. The NRCC's move also has harmed local party unity and opened up Huffman to attacks within the Republican Party and from Democrats. If Huffman wins the...

WASHINGTON - An Arizona congressional race has sparked a rift between Rep. Tom Tancredo and the Colorado Republican Party. Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, is backing a fellow, hard-line opponent of illegal immigration, Randy Graf, in Tuesday's GOP primary in an open-seat race. Much of the national Republican establishment has lined up behind another candidate, Steve Huffman. This week, the Colorado Republican Committee sent Huffman a $5,000 contribution, Federal Election Commission records show. The Colorado contribution angers Tancredo, who has used his profile on immigration to boost state Republicans recently. "He's definitely not happy about it," spokesman Carlos Espinosa said Friday....

Poll: Giffords, Graf lead District 8 contenders By Daniel Scarpinato arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.07.2006 A week out from the primary election, Democrat Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Randy Graf have comfortable leads over their 8th Congressional District rivals, according an Arizona Daily Star-sponsored poll of likely voters. The poll, conducted by Zimmerman & Associates and Marketing Intelligence, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points and polled 800 likely voters Sept. 1-4. Election Day is Tuesday. It also found Republicans are more likely to cross party lines than Democrats in the general...

Ads grow vitriolic in pivotal race Roughly a week after the National Republican Congressional Committee announced that it would be running more than $122,000 worth of ads supporting moderate Republican candidate Steve Huffman, who's locked in a competitive primary race in Arizona District 8, the Democratic Congressional Committee has also leapt into the advertising fray with an ad lambasting Huffman's eight-year record in the State Legislature. p>"When it came time to secure our borders, Steve Huffman was missing," says the Democratic ad, citing Huffman's absence during votes to fund border security technology and fix the immigration system. "If we can't...

For Immediate Release September 6, 2006   Contact: R.T. Gregg (520) 887-2984    Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Endorses Randy Graf(Tucson, AZ) Randy Graf, the leading Republican candidate to replace retiring US Congressman Jim Kolbe, was proud to announce that his candidacy was endorsed today by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California. Congressman Rohrabacher is currently serving his ninth term in Congress and represents the 46th Congressional District of California, which includes the Pacific Coastline of Orange County and Los Angeles from Huntington Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.Congressman Rohrabacher currently serves as Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- As Republican leaders work to retain control of Congress, a number of primaries around the country are pitting their party's conservative base against its moderates. One such fight can be found in this socially moderate border district, where the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent more than $200,000 to help Steve Huffman -- a state representative who favors abortion rights and federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research -- win Tuesday's primary.

Huffman's foes in primary blast national GOP support By Josh Brodesky arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.06.2006 Republican congressional candidate Steve Huffman's primary opponents said Tuesday morning that a flurry of recent advertisements paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee supporting him have interfered with the election process. It was reported last week that the committee had decided to spend more than $122,000 on television advertisements, now airing, in support of Huffman. "I have never seen such an attempt to fix an election," said Mike Hellon, who is seeking the District 8 Republican nomination along with Randy...

WASHINGTON -- Arizona Republicans in a crowded House primary denounced the national GOP Tuesday for taking sides in the race. "They're idiots," one candidate said. The National Republican Congressional Committee last week backed a candidate in the primary, launching a $122,000 advertising campaign for state Rep. Steve Huffman. The party contends Huffman is a moderate candidate who could win the district in November. On Tuesday, Huffman's four GOP opponents took the unusual step of holding a joint news conference and delivering a message to the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Stay the hell out of southern Arizona," said Mike Hellon, one...

JOINT STATEMENT ISSUED BY FRANK ANTENORI, RANDY GRAF, MIKE HELLON, AND MIKE JENKINS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 5, 2006 "Today, we, four of the five Republican candidates for Congress in Arizona's Eighth District take a bold step to jointly declare our unified outrage at the highly unusual actions taken by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to openly support one candidate, Steve Huffman, in this Republican primary. On March 30, 2006, RNC Chairman Ken Mehiman visited Tucson to attend a local party fundraiser. During his visit, Mehlman held a private meeting with the five declared candidates for Congress or their...

A special one-hour edition of Arizona Illustrated's Friday Roundtable featuring 5 Republican candidates for Congress in District 8: * Frank Antenori * Randy Graf * Mike Hellon * Steve Huffman * Mike Jenkins. The candidates are questioned by Ann Brown of the Arizona Daily Star, Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly and host Bill Buckmaster. High Speed Windows Media: mms://kuat.org/ai/pol/pol180806a.wmv Quicktime http://www.kuat.org/arizonaillustrated/segments/pol/pol100806a.mp4

BISBEE — Congressman Jim Kolbe said he would be “closely watching” the Border Patrol’s management of traffic revision points in the area after the officer in charge of the agency’s Naco station said that a permanent checkpoint on Highway 90 would be reinstated. Kolbe has long opposed permanent Border Patrol revision points, which he says are predictable and ineffective. Instead, he advocates roving checkpoints and has inserted a provision into Border Patrol appropriations bills requiring the agency’s Tucson Sector to relocate checkpoints on a regular basis. “The law allows checkpoints, but they must be relocated at least once every seven...

BISBEE — More than once Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever has been called to Washington, D.C., to testify before congressional committees about border problems. Today the sheriff is heading to the East Coast, where he will testify before two committees — one in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, and the other in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. What senators and representatives will hear is more of the same, more of what he told members of Congress in 1997, and that is the nation’s immigration and border strategies are failing, Dever said Sunday. While it is expected that both...

AR RAMADI, Iraq, Feb. 15, 2006 — The streets here are a far cry from the corner of 8th and I streets in Washington, D.C., and yet for an infantryman who joined the Marine Corps to travel the world and do his part in the war on terrorism, it is the only place he wants to be. Cpl. Jared St. Clair, an infantryman with 4th Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, has finally made it to Iraq and is making the most of his opportunity. He’s serving in the city that many experts and officials are calling the...

COLUMBUS, N.M. — For Capt. Brendon Dever, the landscape he reviewed from a knoll was almost like home. Born and raised in Arizona, Dever was recently in New Mexico taking part in Operation Western Vigil, a mission supporting the U.S. Border Patrol in locating illegal activities crossing the international boundary. The soldiers are not authorized to apprehend any illegal immigrants or drug smugglers, but they do provide information of where those engaged in illegal activities are located. “We are the gathers of intelligence,” Dever said. Dever is the S-2, the intelligence officer, for C Troop, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment...