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10-24-2012, 11:22 PM #1
Latino Democrat narrows race for Senate in Arizona
October 23, 2012|Tim Gaynor | Reuters
GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY, Arizona (Reuters) - A Latino Democrat who rose from a hardscrabble childhood to become U.S. surgeon general has tightened the race for an open Senate seat in Arizona, a state that hasn't elected a Democratic senator in almost 25 years.
With just two weeks before the November 6 election, Democrat Richard Carmona is in a statistical dead heat with six-term Republican congressman Jeff Flake, the early favorite.
Carmona has been boosted in part by a drive to register thousands of Hispanics riled by the border state's crackdown on illegal immigration. But it is economic issues such as job creation and deficit reduction, not immigration, that are dominating the discourse in the race.
"I see the job as a senator as being the primary advocate for ... business interests in my community," Carmona said in a in a debate with Flake at the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix last week.
Arizona has not elected a Democratic senator since Dennis DeConcini won a third and final term in 1988. Flake and Carmona are battling for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Jon Kyl.
A win for Carmona would boost Democrats, who hope to hold onto a slim 51-47 advantage over Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
Victory for either candidate will depend on independent voters, who make up about a third of the state's electorate and tend to be moderate. That is one reason analysts say neither candidate is campaigning hard on the state's divisive crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Arizonans are "very hawkish on the border issues, but they're pretty darn moderate in terms of how to solve this problem about (illegal immigrants) who have been here a long time ... and the candidates know that," said Bruce Merrill, a political analyst and professor emeritus at Arizona State University.
Carmona's life story is part of his campaign's appeal. He was raised in poverty in New York City by Puerto Rican parents who struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse.
Carmona dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army, where he became a decorated Special Forces combat medic in the Vietnam War. He returned to school, eventually earning his medical degree and later being named surgeon general by Republican President George W. Bush.
He is campaigning on a platform of job creation and balancing the federal budget, and pledges to move beyond partisanship to break the deadlock in Washington if elected.
Flake, 49, a fifth-generation Arizonan, seeks to galvanize the party's conservative base with his opposition to abortion and a record of voting to cut taxes and the size of government. He is also pledging to tackle the U.S. budget deficit.
Latino Democrat narrows race for Senate in Arizona - Chicago TribuneSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
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10-25-2012, 08:25 AM #2"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**
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Laura Loomer - Woke up this morning to a @nytimes article...
03-27-2024, 11:36 PM in General Discussion