Written by Add a couple more names to the list of former RINO state legislators who are thinking of making a comeback. Former State Reps Deb Gullett, Pete Hershberger and Marian McClure are all making noises about returning. Gullett is part of the McCain machine and has spent several years working for Democrat Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. Still, she left office under a cloud when her method of collecting petition signatures appeared to cross legal lines. We’re not sure how long people’s memories are, but we’re sure her opponents will be willing to remind people. Hershberger needs no introduction to readers of this site, but to those of you who are new to our part of the world, Pete Hershberger was, by far, the most liberal Republican in the entire State Legislature. We imagine the Democrats miss him and his useful inside information on what the Republicans were/are planning. Still, LD26 voters haven’t missed him since they replaced him with Al Melvin. McClure isn’t as liberal as Hershberger, but standing next to Frank Antenori and David Gowan, she looks that way. McClure just came off of a disastrous campaign for the Arizona Corporation Commission where she cost the GOP a seat on the previously all-GOP commission. We’ll keep you posted as these races continue to develop.
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I think Frank and David would beat McClure. They’re a good team, work together well, and she is so far to their left that exposing her voting record would be very easy. Plus, she’s the challenger now, so she has to give the voters a reason to kick out the two incumbents. Is she going to run because they refused to raise taxes?
You are so right, I did have a disastrous campaign. It started the weekend before the Labor Day weekend when I broke my ankle. I could not walk nor could I stand long enough to get dressed to go anywhere. I became a non-existent candidate and I knew I was seriously handicapped. I find it amazing that nearly 882,000 people voted for me since I was never able to do anything. I am sorry I let the Republican Party down in that race.
Wow, Gary Tupper jumping back in 26 now?
On 30, what’s Mary going to do? Who is she going to attack? Is anyone else going to run? Is it going to be one person targeting two or is anyone else going to run and dilute that whole effort? Will the Pima GOP stand idly by while she attacks incumbents? Intweresting if she does run and she’s a tough fighter but she’s got some obstacles that were jsut not there a couple of years ago.
Antenori and Gowan are so far right they look left. Listen to what they are saying and doing. Antenori says he does NOT represent Tucson. They are the reason they will make Republicans lose control of the House next term. No one what’s D’s in control of either body BUT these guys are not doing what a Republican should do. Al was listening as the worse RINO in the Senate.
McClure did an outstanding job in the House and did a great job of representing us for 8 years. She would be a wonderful addition back in the House. The boys are at the beckon call of Maricopa legislators. They let people from Anthem think for them—boy that is great representation!
Be careful what you are saying–people remember.
Wow, you really do have to be kidding. I want to debate with you, but I can’t read your post. There are so many errors in that I’m going to assume that you might not be the most reliable analyst either. I get that no one “what’s D’s in control” and that Al is “listening” as the “worse” RINO in the Senate. Not sure what being at the “beckon call” means and have no idea what Anthem has to do with anything. But I’m with you with you warn us to “be careful what you are saying”. People do remember!
And no, based on all of that, I’m not surprised that you will endorse McClure for State House. It makes sense, in context.
As for McClure’s campaign for ACC, she had $250,000 and was invisible. That’s not her ankle’s fault, that’s just bad campaigning. While the Dems teamed up, the GOP candidates didn’t, even though two of the three of them were a team in the primary. They could have had $750,000 to pool and campaign with and they didn’t do it. No issues, no positions, no reason to vote for any of them other than party id. They thought they had it made, kicked back, and got whipped. If it wasn’t for Stump’s name, the Dems would be in control of the ACC today. That’s not McClure’s ankle’s fault.
John,
If you would ever like to know the ends and outs of running as a clean election candidate, look me up in the phone book. I will tell you exactly what happened and why. We did pool the money together as much as possible. I will be shocked if I hear from you but you are welcome to call. I am in Yuma tomorrow giving a talk but am home the rest of the week.
What’s that about Tupper in LD26?
As for McClure, she was your basic left-of-center legislator. In today’s legislature, she’d be one of the 4 or 5 most liberal Republicans out there, and you can bet she’d be on board with new taxes and new spending. She always was.
As for her “amazement” that 882,000 people voted for her, that’s just posing on her part. The GOP candidates are going to get votes from lots of folks just because they are GOP candidates. Same goes for the Democrats. Why is that a surprise? She flatters herself into thinking that those 882,000 people actually knew anything about her or were voting for Marian McClure specifically, as opposed to just voting straight ticket, etc. She ran an invisible campaign and most voters never even heard from her or about her. A healthy ankle and knocking on 3,000 more doors wasn’t going to change that.
If Marian wants to know what the voters really thought of her campaign and her candidacy, all she needs to know is that she finished last. Dead last. In fact, McClure wasn’t even the top GOP vote-getter in Pima County, her “base”.
I do understand the rules Ms. McClure, so there is no need for the phone call. But none of that addresses the invisibility. I never saw any mail, heard any radio ads, or saw any TV ads from you or the other GOP candidates. The only signs I ever saw for you were your primary signs, even during the general they were left up, leaving Bob Robson in the race as far as voters knew. I knew that the Democrats were running as “The Solar Team” from their materials and I got no message from the GOP candidates at all, at any time during the general.
2 of the 3 Democrats ran Clean and all three of them got their message out. All 3 GOP candidates ran Clean, they got matching funds at the exact same time as the 2 Democrats did, and they got no message out.
Now maybe that was part of your plan. Maybe you were ignoring high-propensity voters like me to pursue some niche group of folks. That was your right I guess. I’m glad to hear that you pooled your money, and I believe you when you say that you did. But I never saw the results of that money and I don’t know anyone else who did either. In a year when McCain did well and GOP legislative candidates did surprisingly well, you three got kicked around pretty well. That suggests a bad campaign, regardless of why.
Thanks for the response in any case. I’ll admit that I prefer center-right candidates, so you’re not my cup of tea for the Legislature, but you obviously have some fans out there, so you can’t be doing everything wrong.
I checked for any candidates named Tupper and only found a guy who ran for Governor in 2006. Not sure what the thing is with Gary Tupper and LD26. The guy who ran for Governor lived up in Maricopa County.
John,
There were three expensive mailings that went out. We spent untold money on radio and even some for newspapers. The problem lay in that we could not incur debt but Sam George could. He committed for television knowing exactly what he would be spending and of course the D’s were only too happy to help pay for everything. I wanted to do television but not knowing when and how much would be coming we were hendered from committing anything until it was in our hands.
I am so right of center it is unbelievable but you are definitely entitled to your opinion.
Have a good day.
I’m having trouble with the idea that you were beaten by the Democrats and their “funding plan”. Sure, they had one guy with lots of money and two clean candidates who got matched. Then, the three of them ran as a team. Big deal. All three GOP candidates got the same money and, according to you, ran as a team.
You had the same money, at the same time, running as the same three person team. Republicans won around Arizona, you had a voter registration advantage, and only Stump survived. His last name helped a lot, and his conservative voting record had to be an asset as well. But Republicans win those seats, or at least they did until you all came along. I don’t get how that isn’t your fault.
John, you’re missing another important fact. McClure certainly understood the Dems strategy because she was on a team in the primary that had the EXACT same strategy. She and Stump ran with Bob Robson, who ran traditional and raised lots of money, just like Sam George did. Their plan in the primary was the same as the Democrats’ plan in the general. Of course, even with the same advantage, they didn’t pull it off in the primary and Robson finished back in 5th or 6th place.
The loss wasn’t Clean Elections fault. The voters had one solid Republican, two RINOs, and three Democrats to vote for. The Democrats ran a better race, you couldn’t tell the RINOs from the Dems (if you ever heard from the GOP team), and only the solid Republican survived.
And Marian, you as “so right of center” is unbelievable because its not true. Voters have less and less patience with politicians who pretend to be something they’re not. Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that you’re a conservative. Your voting record says otherwise. I wouldn’t take your voting record and run in any of the tea party primaries that the GOP will be having in 2010.
John and Tim,
I have offered to discuss with you by telephone and will not continue this dialogue. You obviously have your mind set and as one of my friends reminded me a closed mind is like a closed umbrella. Sorry I ever chose to respond, I should have known better. May both of you have a good life and a good tomorrow.
So much for public discourse. I suppose only talking in private can work for a few folks, but then how do the other readers get to learn from the exchange? Oh well. I think it is true that I’m pretty set as someone who would not vote for Ms. McClure. She’s way too far left for my taste. With everything going to pieces around us, the temptation for weak people to turn to their government to take over and manage their lives is great. We need to guard against that and one way to do it is to NOT elect politicians who are keen on growing government and making it a larger part of our lives. That’s why I wouldn’t vote for McClure and why mainstream, conservative Republicans won’t either. There’s too darn much government anymore, so elect real conservatives and send the RINOs packing.
I guess I must have missed it then in all the rhubarb. Is McClure running for the house again? Did she confirm that? If so which one of the incumbents is she running against?
Same with Son of Tupper. Are there any others gunning for the primary? What if Humphreys ran again?
Let’s say it’s a two person primary, Tupper advances with the incumbent, and then in the general he says we need to raise taxes to increase social services. So who does he run against in the general. Or do they both adopt that position and run on “republicans can do tax increases better than democrats” platform. Slippery slope.
Stewie, tell us what you know about Tupper. If you can’t tell from the comments section, we don’t know who he is, who Son of Tupper is, and there is no one with that name filed to run. Thanks.
As for Marian, I’d agree that she is running again because the post raises that idea and she doesn’t deny it like someone would if they were not running. She hasn’t filed yet, so that’s probably why she’s ignoring the question.
As for who she’s running against, she’ll run against both Antenori and Gowan. She can’t pick just one, its three of them running for two seats. And Antenori and Gowan will likely run as a team in any case. Really, the person most likely to benefit from McClure running is the Democrat, who will thank Marian for forcing Antenori and Gowan to spend their money on the primary instead of the general. Plus, you can bet McClure will be saying bad things about them that the Democrat can use in the general election. What a waste. Just because Marian misses being in office? Yikes.
Sorry, just having a bit of fun with the Tupper thing. Was just poking Hershberger about being relatively left of other republicans like Tupper was.
Nice blog post – I found your site through AOL.