As Arizona's U.S. Senate race enters its final days, the two candidates hoping to succeed retiring Sen. Jon Kyl are playing to their strengths: Republican Jeff Flake is calling in presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to help close his argument for victory with the state's conservative-leaning electorate. Democrat Richard Carmona is reaching out to independents and Hispanics, two key voting blocs that could help him pull off an upset.
Flake is asking Arizona voters to pick sides. They're either with him, Romney, Kyl and U.S. Sen. John McCain, or they're with Carmona, President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"The stakes are high Arizona. I urge you to send Jeff Flake to the Senate and he'll help get America back on track," Romney says in his appeal to Arizona voters in an ad running during the final week.
Carmona is playing down party affiliation. He's not mentioning Obama or the Democratic Party in his final pitches to voters. "I'm not worried about whose party is in power," he said.
By brandishing his resume and focusing on taking a middle path, Carmona has succeeded in making Republicans work far harder than they ever envisioned keeping Kyl's seat in Republican hands. The closeness of the race is proven through the millions of dollars in outside spending that has poured into Arizona in recent weeks from outside interest groups. Those groups know that Arizona has quickly become a focal point for determining which party controls the Senate over the next two years.
Helping Carmona's standing is the fact that Republicans have in the past been in Carmona's corner and even attempted to recruit him to run for office under their banner. Carmona's campaign has been airing an ad starring McCain and Kyl as they spoke in support of Carmona becoming surgeon general under President George W. Bush.
"Our nation will gain an invaluable leader," McCain said at the 2002 confirmation hearing.
"One might call him a man for all seasons. His unique background will serve him well and serve us well," Kyl added.
The political cross-pollination stung. "Richard Carmona's latest ad is the most shameful of all, implying that Jon and I support him. We don't," McCain said.
As the race has tightened, outside groups such as the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks have targeted the race on Flake's behalf. The League of Conservation Voters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have weighed in behind Carmona. In October alone, the groups have spent more than $15 million on the race and voters learned more about Carmona, who entered the race as a relative unknown.
Analysts say Carmona, who was unopposed for his party's nomination, benefited from Flake's tough primary challenge from Mesa businessman Wil Cardon.
"Flake was initially thought to just sail into the general (election), and he had to battle" in the primary, said Fred Solop, a professor of politics and international affairs at Northern Arizona University. "He lost momentum. He had to raise and spend money to fend off these attacks."
A scarcity of independent polling makes it hard to say exactly how much support each candidate has, but Flake and Carmona agree the contest is close. That has raised the prospect that Libertarian Marc Victor, a criminal defense attorney, could play the role of spoiler —to Flake's disadvantage.
"Congressman Flake took for granted that he was going to walk into that seat," Carmona said.
Flake said he always knew the race was going to be close and noted the heavy flow of money from outside groups.
"We are glad for the help. We have had a lot of money spent against us," Flake said. "This will even it out somewhat, but I think, still, there has been a lot more ads on the other side than from our side."
Flake raised $6.5 million and spent $5.8 million over the course of the race, while Carmona has brought in $5.4 million and spent $4.2 million.
Outside groups have dumped in an additional $17 million — about 60 percent of which came from Flake backers, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan tracker of campaign spending. The groups have pumped $5.3 million into the race since Oct. 24.
Democrats, including Obama, recruited Carmona to run for the seat after it became clear that then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wouldn't campaign because of head injuries she suffered during the January 2011 shooting rampage in Tucson. Arizona's last Democratic senator was Dennis DeConcini, who retired in 1995.
Both candidates have recently focused on Latinos, a group of voters that's believed to favor Carmona.
Carmona said he admires Bush and the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy for trying to craft legislation would improve border security and give illegal immigrants already in the U.S. a pathway to citizenship.
Flake has been criticized for changing his immigration views. In the past, he supported proposals that would have revamped guest-worker programs and created a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. But he took a narrower position when he announced his Senate candidacy last year, saying voters won't trust government to fix the nation's immigration woes unless it can first secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Flake held a news conference last week at a church to announce support from Latino pastors and had to respond to questions from reporters about his chances of winning strong Latino support given his immigration views.
Flake said he's not conceding any group of voters to Carmona and defended his record on immigration, noting that he has taken his lumps over the years from within his party over his efforts to overhaul immigration policies.
Osaywhatistruth posted at 4:46 pm on Fri, Nov 2, 2012.
IMO there is only one real choice for the open Senate seat and that is Mr. Flake. Why?
1. The country can't continue to operate with a Harry Reid led Senate that refuses to submit a budget proposal that can then be negotiated with the House.
2.Regadles of all the ads, scare tactics, partisanship, and overall campaign fatique felt by everyone...we really do need to get our fiscal house in order and we can properly assume four more years of the Obama administration will result in no real attempt to work with all side in creating a framework that promotes real job growth, tax reform, and level headed cuts in large government departments and programs.
3. HHS is a disater and needs to be repealed. People who think that is will just "work itself out" should know better. It won't.
4. Dr. Carmona has done nothing to indicate he would do anything contrary to supporting President Obama and Mr. Reid's agenda and because of that we can assume he would do absolutely nothing with respect to finding answers regarding:
a. Fast and Furious
b. The real econimic results of the last stimulus spending bill
c. The debacle in Libya
The race may be close, but I'm confident that the majority of Arizonans will select a Senator who was raised in Arizona and has a long track record of tackling issues that benefit all of us. Not a paid ad or endorsement..just a vote for the right candidate.
IceCat posted at 6:40 pm on Fri, Nov 2, 2012.
Osaywhatistruth forgot one something very important. Ask any elected council person in Mesa/Gilbert how much help Rep. Flake provided them in request for help with project. The answer is zero. Rep. Flake has been nothing but an empty suit in Washington.
Rich posted at 11:48 pm on Fri, Nov 2, 2012.
I"ve got choice between two jerks. Why vote for either? Vote for a third party candidate or write in.
soricobob posted at 6:03 am on Sat, Nov 3, 2012.
I'm not sure if the fact that Carmona was appointed by President Bush, and is now a Democrat, is positive or not.
Mij14I posted at 12:57 pm on Sat, Nov 3, 2012.
Instead of letting prevailing sentiment and spin guide one to how they vote; I have to say I’ve been pragmatic in my selection for US Senate. It is unfortunate many intelligent people with better occupations or operating their own businesses think the term of US Senator is for four years. No, it is six years. If four years of living with bad consequences of an election seems long and tedious, six years is even worse.
Carmona doesn’t have any experience in the legislative sector. Carmona’s service as Surgeon General is part of the executive branch of government. The constituent who lives with the consequences of the member of Congress’ thinking, debate and votes at least have the benefit of Congressional experience in Jeff Flake. No experience is a dubious consequence in a candidate. Better no experience start in the U S House of Representatives than the U S Senate.
For that matter I chose to pass the third party candidate as well. The Senate and the House are excessively full of lawyers. We need more economists, accountants, entrepreneurs and educators. (Not education administrators – EDUCATORS) filling the seats of Congress and Senate. Next Carmona’s campaign pulling video footage of his confirmation hearings for Surgeon General in 2002 is a little bit of a misrepresentation. Once again, two different arenas, two different expectations of the individual. Insulting my intelligence doesn’t validate your intelligence, Dr. Carmona. I’m sure other reasonable voters will see the paradox of that. Carmona and his campaign looks like a used car salesman. Yes, it is a fact, but it isn’t reality. Furthermore, John McCain will still be the senior U S Senator from Arizona, like it or not. Dr. Carmona to use a ten year old endorsement of John McCain is complete idiocy. So you’ve wrecked any possibility of harmony with the senior senator for the next four years. Once again four years is a long time let alone six years. Notice I didn’t completely discount the fact and truth of the Carmona campaign ad with Kyl and McCain. There’s a little truth in every rumor. With that in mind the ad featuring a former female supervisor of Dr. Carmona telling of his anger issues has to be considered. Dr. Carmona in the second debate aligned himself with Senator McCain being a Veteran of the Vietnam war with characteristics of former warriors. Two senators with hair trigger tempers won’t bode well for Arizona.
Carmona is speaking on acting independently; yet he admits on his campaign web site, in debates and in ads President Obama and Harry Reid both encouraged him to run for the U S Senate. I mentioned lack of experience being a factor to me. Carmona will soon experience in politics the magnitude of U S Senate, you have to dance with who brought you to the dance. Dr. Carmona’s independence will be gone on November 7th. Beyond January 3, 2013 re-election will be the last thing on Carmona’s mind, saving face with his Arizona constituency will be far more important.
During this time in U S History the personality and background of Richard Carmona in the U S Senate is dangerous. I don’t completely write off Richard Carmona. I feel he should run for the U S House of Representatives in his Congressional District in 2014. At least he should run for the Arizona Legislature. He isn’t fit for the U S Senate in 2013.
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