Posted on 11/13/2018 5:48:12 AM PST by LS
As a native Arizonian---though one who has been away for 30 years until 2016---I forgot a lot of my history. People like to paint states or regions as "red" or "blue" but Arizona, like most states, has a complex and hardly linear past.
Arizona began as a "Progressive" state and was denied statehood for many years because it had "democratic" elements in its state constitution (the first to do so): Initiative, Referendum, and Recall of state officials. They also included direct election of senators and women's suffrage. The feds found this unconstitutional and delayed statehood status for this reason.
Arizonians removed the offending clauses, got statehood, then immediately put them back in.
While Arizona was a Republican state, it came from the Progressive/TR/Taft wing. Nevertheless, Arizona's first two senators were Democrats, Marcus Smith and Henry Ashurst. After being reelected in 1914, Smith lost to the first Republican senator, Ralph Cameron. He'd be the LAST Republican til Goldwater!
In 1927, Carl Hayden(D) won. He became an Arizona legend and is properly celebrated here because with Ernest McFarland (D who replaced the reelected Ashurst in 1941) the two made Arizona water their top priority.
In the 1980s I was asked to create the archives of Sen. McFarland and went over every paper the man ever wrote. He literally spent 99% of his time on Arizona water. He and Hayden engineered the Colorado River project that used federal money to line Arizona with canals that brought water from the Colorado River. Without that water, Arizona today would be little different than sparsely populated states such as New Mexico or Utah.
McFarland stepped down in 1952. That marked only the second time since 1926 a Republican served in the Arizona senate delegation. Barry Goldwater held the seat until 1965. He had stepped down to run for president in 1964, and R Paul Fannin took his seat (Hayden was still there!). Hayden finally left in 1968 when Goldwater returned, and for the first time Arizona had two R senators (Fannin the other).
It didn't last long. Fannin stepped down in 1976 and another Democrat Dennis DeConcini replaced him. Ten years later Goldwater finally retired and John McCain too his seat (DeConcini still the other senator).
In 1994 DeConcini retired and current US Senator Jon Kyl was elected, becoming Arizona's most conservative senator since Goldwater. Kyl served until 2012, when the useless slime Jeff Flakey was elected (and immediately disappointed Arizonians). Upon McTurd's death, Kyl was again asked to step in.
HAVEN'T CHECKED, BUT HEARD ON THE RADIO THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES Ds OUTNUMBER Rs IN THE COMBINED AZ CONGRSSIONAL DELEGATION.
My point is only that Arizona's past is NOT reflective of "extreme conservatism," and a long view would more appropriately suggest it has been a D-leaning state until quite recently.
Pretty selective fraud there.
Did it take several days to come up with vote totals on those other races?
I think most people see Arizona as being conservative because of Barry Goldwater. But a lot of people retire there (baby boomers) that come from all over, so many are likely to be liberal.
However the issue is framed the goal has to be to stop illegal immigration cold. If it isn’t, Texas falls and the Ds will become our permanent political party. Trump has to be supported and he has to get this done. There is no middle ground on this issue.
We are on the worst case path currently, of poor/hostile messaging, AND not securing the border.
“Did it take several days to come up with vote totals on those other races?”
Yes. The difference was that margins meant late votes couldn’t change anything. Arizona rarely has a fully counted election in less than a week. The Secretary of State may be Dem this time...currently leading by 5667 votes after narrowly trailing on election night.
https://results.arizona.vote/#/state/4/0
He is 1000x better than Sinema. For all Flake's BS, he voted the right way, with Trump, on most issues including Kavanaugh, Obamacare repeal. Sinema is 100% guaranteed to be against anything Trump is for. Flake had a big mouth, but voted the right way.
“If he hadn’t come, she’d have lost by 150,000 votes! Or more.”
I concur. No matter how it would have turned out, the left got its way, as usual, in Arizona’s run for US Senate.
By my numbers, mail in ballots were 70% of the total this year. Not very susceptible to fraud. You sign them. The signature is compared to the signature on file. If there is a question, they call you. When your ballot is accepted, the inner envelope is submitted for the count.
Not saying fraud is impossible, but Arizona is NOT Florida, Broward County, or Georgia. No votes are being added in after the election. The votes being counted now - and I just heard there are over 150,000 remaining - were cast NLT Election Day.
Consider McSally’s history:
“Results unveiled Wednesday by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper — more than six weeks after the Nov. 4 election — showed McSally ahead by 167 votes. McSally, a retired Air Force officer and the first female to fly in combat, previously led the vote count by 161 votes, but a mandatory recount followed because the margin was not wide enough...The results come after a federal judge rejected a request from the Barber campaign to count 133 additional votes that the Democrat believed to have been improperly rejected.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/martha-mcsally-arizona-second-113640
Notice she gained votes, slightly. 161 vote lead finished at 167 vote lead. Ended on 17 December 2014!
Wait, what? There are 150,000 ballots extant and McSally has conceded? WTF?
Apart from that, I still don't feel comfortable with so many mail in ballots. That not only strikes me as strange that there are so many, it also makes it too easy to create fraud if you have a machine set up to do it. The Democrats often run a machine.
70% of the ballots being mail in does not make any sort of sense at all. It seems to me that it's as much trouble to go to the post office to mail in a ballot as it is to just vote. Why would 70% of the voters find it easier to mail in a ballot? That doesn't make sense.
Why would 70% of Arizona want to vote by mail in ballot?
The Miss Of La Manchin?
If we lose it isn’t due to votes it’s due to cheating democrats are experts at it note history.
I tried the mail in ballot this year. It lets me sit at the table and research any ballot issues while voting. It also allows me to cast my vote and get it done with. It is more convenient.
OTOH, I like the ID check that goes with Election Day voting. However, you can still get fraud there with precincts where no one cares to look. Not sure voting by mail is any more fraudulent than voting in person. Not when one considers Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Broward County!
I saw that on display when Laura Ingraham hosted a townhall of Arizona voters. I would have thought, with proximity to the border, they would be anti-illegal. Not so. One man even wanted to give them free healthcare and welfare and college. Half of the audience were full blown open borders.
A minor historical quibble...no one was ever burned at the stake in America, The “witches” were hanged.
Too many Calispanics. Build the wall. Along CA.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.