Posted on 09/13/2006 2:55:49 AM PDT by Dane
Graf leads GOP; 'Gabby wanted me, has me,' front-runner says By Daniel Scarpinato arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.13.2006
Randy Graf held a commanding lead for the Republican nomination in Congressional District 8 Tuesday night over Steve Huffman with the help of voters in rural areas. With nearly 95 percent of the vote counted, and leading by about 3,000 votes, Graf claimed victory. An undetermined number of early ballots that were turned in late remain uncounted and may not be counted until Friday.
"Gabby Giffords wanted me. Gabby Giffords has me," he told supporters late last night. Graf said he felt for some time he had the race won but held off claiming victory until he heard from Huffman. But when no call came, he made his claim. Graf led with about 43 percent of the vote compared with Huffman's 37 percent. Mike Hellon followed with 12 percent.
Though Graf continued to extend his lead through the night, Huffman refused to concede or speculate about the remaining uncounted votes. "Clearly the race is a lot tighter than was projected, even (as recently as) this weekend," he said from his Oro Valley home where about 75 supporters had gathered. Meanwhile, at Graf's celebration party, attended by 200 of his supporters, the candidate was looking ahead at his general election campaign against Democrat Gabrielle Giffords — the victor on the other side of the race. The general election is Nov. 7.
Graf, who worked with Giffords in the Legislature, told reporters he "expects it to be a clean campaign, focused on the issues." "Elections are about choices," he said. "It will be easy for voters to choose between myself and Gabrielle Giffords."
Asked if he would eventually be willing to support Graf, Huffman did not provide a direct answer. "I will be working to make sure the House maintains Republican control," he said. But when pressed, Huffman had indicated on Saturday night that he would support whoever won. Graf told reporters he would welcome Huffman's support but was not overly concerned about his holdout. In a contest that often centered on who was the most hawkish on the thorny immigration issue, the five candidates in the race spent much of the year debating issues and highlighting their achievements. Also in the race were Raytheon employee Frank Antenori, who had garnered 4 percent of the vote, and auto-shop manager Mike Jenkins, who received about 3 percent. Antenori said Republicans now need to come together after an often acrimonious campaign. "We need to come together as a team, and Randy Graf is our quarterback," he said.
Graf, a former golf professional, ran unsuccessfully against retiring Rep. Jim Kolbe in 2004. This time Graf said he's the best candidate to win the district in the general election because he presents a clear alternative to the Democratic Party, has a strong base of grass-roots support and was the first to take illegal immigration seriously. On that, Graf and Huffman's competition exposed an ideological split.
The candidates previously conceded that bringing together the party will be difficult, but not impossible. "We don't have to change the game plan," Graf said Tuesday night. "We just need a lot more room on the bus for more supporters." National Republicans decided last month to spend more than $122,000 on primary-race television ads endorsing Huffman. Democrats also pumped money into the race, launching a last-minute campaign against Huffman. There had been early pressure on Hellon to drop out of the race. With both he and Huffman sharing moderate views on social issues like marriage and abortion and supporting a guest-worker plan for illegal immigrants, his presence in the race was viewed as a drag on Huffman's chances.
But Hellon stayed in, releasing a detailed border plan and holding town halls to tap into conservative voters.
No I don't know that for sure and yet you don't know for sure that if Hellon had dropped out that Graf would have won.
JMO and you can call it tinfoil if you wish, Hellon got some Team America(Tancredo/Bay Buchanan) PAC money to stay in the primary.
Let him go begging to the DNC, afterall he didn't reject their help in the primary.
He would have been stupid to do so. I wouldn't have expected Huffman to disavow the NRCC ads, either. But the NRCC should have never gotten involved in the first place. Chances are, that would have kept the Democrats out of the race, and might have left Graf with more cash on hand, which would seem to be his chief problem now going into November.
"....but I would still vote for him despite your hankering to burn bridges with fellow conservatoves."
You seem to want good conservative Randy Graf to burn bridges with Tom Tancredo. And Tom Tancredo is what? A moderate? A liberal? I don't think so.
I've also seen some that had them tied or with Graf barely ahead. There were none to my knowledge that had Huffman leading.
The polls you now cite that have the democrat way in front today may be correct but could be just as wrong as Tarrance and others were. You are drawing general conclusions they are without a doubt correct and just based on this election alone I'm not willing to make that assumption.
A bridge burner.
I said Tucson is the liberal enclave of AZ and Tucson is most of AZ8. Outside of Tucson things go back to AZ normal, which is pretty conservative (and really for a liberal place Tucson still has a strong conservative vein, the place isn't like CA liberal, even the liberals here believe in the 2nd Ammendment). That's what puts things sort of into play, but Gabby is going to come out as the strong front runner, she's got a real lock on the Tucson vote and had a pretty mellow primary. The question is will she win Tucson by enough to overcome how much she'll probably lose the non-Tucson parts of AZ8. I think she will, I thought she would from the minute she announced her candidacy. That's not going to stop me from supporting Graf, just means I won't be surpised if he loses.
I know nothing about the democratic contender but I will predict that the most moderate candidate will win the general election.
Anyway, check out Gabrielle Giffords, the self-described "progressive," loved to death by the people at Daily Kos.
You confirm my suspicion, which is that the national party favored Huffman for his positions and philosophy, and not for his "electability," and that they will now work towards electing the Democrat by denying Graf any money or help.
There are not enough registered republicans or democrats to elect their respective candidates.
Uh B Knotts, can you show me where Graf denounced the DNC help?
"the NRCC, who slimed this guy in the primary."
I'm sure the outcome of this race gave Rove, Mehlman, Gillespie, et al. major heartburn. Hope conservative, pro-secure borders Graf can pull it off in November despite a moderate-to-liberal GOP party organization.
Graf BUMP.
Are you supporting Graf, or the Democrat?
You tell me. Graf did not denounce the DNC ads against Huffman(and indirect help to Graf). If I lived in the district, I would hold my nose and vote for Graf.
ping
Endorsement by Claudia Kennedy tells me all I need to know
Candlelight vigil at the Dane household! LOLOLOL
Reagan conservatives Al Melvin and Dave Jorgenson also won Pima Cnty primaries for state senate and house against liberal/moderate republicans. All good at the Graf party last night while the republican hq held their sulkfest down the street. Pathetic.
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