Kyl, Pederson race is likely state's most expensive

09:35 AM MST on Monday, October 9, 2006

By Josh Brodesky / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

As students at the University of Arizona in the '60s, Jon Kyl and Jim Pederson graduated within a year of each other.

They each majored in political science and despite having mutual acquaintances and sharing an interest in politics, they never met.

"We must have run in different circles," Pederson said.

Kyl went on to a career in law and then politics. He has represented Arizona for 19 years, serving in Congress before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994.

Pederson, who is now Kyl's Democratic challenger, amassed a fortune as a developer and has served as the chairman of the state's Democratic Party.

Roughly 40 years after their paths nearly crossed, the two are engaged in what is almost certainly the most expensive race in state history. As of Aug. 23, the two sides had spent about $13 million, Federal Election Commission reports show.

The candidates have shredded each other over immigration, taxes, Social Security and, most recently, the war in Iraq.

With a month until the general election, polls show Kyl leading Pederson by 6 to 11 points.

Libertarian Richard Mack is also running but is polling at roughly 2 percent. All along, this race has been about Kyl and Pederson.

A "workhorse" for the GOP

One of the nation's more conservative senators, Kyl is drawing 19 percent of likely Democratic voters, said Bruce Merrill, a political scientist with Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

It was Merrill's poll that placed Kyl 11 points ahead of Pederson.

"I tell you where I stand, and you can make a judgment," Kyl said of his appeal to Democrats. "People appreciate someone who, even though they may disagree with some of their views, comes across as a reasonable person."

Quiet and often overshadowed by John McCain, his Senate counterpart, Kyl has with little notice ascended to a place of power within the Republican Party. He is the fourth-ranking Republican senator and chair of party policy. He also serves on the Senate's finance and judiciary committees.

Jennifer Duffy, managing editor and Senate analyst of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, noted that GOP members refer to Kyl as the "workhorse."

The reference is often tossed about by his supporters at campaign events. It's meant to highlight Kyl's behind-the-scenes work, suggesting that he's a person who will get things done, Duffy said.

It works particularly well with McCain's higher profile.

"Having another Republican senator from the state actually probably gives him (McCain) a little bit of freedom to move around," she said.

On most issues, Kyl breaks along conservative Republican lines. He has written that education spending is a state issue, but he is a supporter of the No Child Left Behind Act. He has consistently voted against increasing the minimum wage and does not support abortion.

He supported the recent border-fence legislation, and his own immigration proposal this spring played to the conservative wing of his party. That legislation called for the mandatory departure of illegal entrants after five years in a temporary-worker program. It was derided by critics as "report to deport."

Kyl said, if re-elected, he is open to some compromise on his legislation.

But whatever compromise that may be, it won't involve a path to citizenship.

"It doesn't seem to me that people who could be part of the temporary-worker program, that they should be given a path to citizenship," he said.

In a political climate where Democrats have sought to make Iraq the central issue of the 2006 election, Kyl has calmly maintained his unwavering support of the war, which he said he is committed to until Iraq is self-sufficient and free of terrorists.

"I think it would be very hard to imagine that we could win the war on these terrorists if we give up what everybody acknowledges was the central battle," he said. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kyl chairs the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security.

Asked how the war has made the United States safer, he didn't answer the question directly but cited the reorganization of intelligence agencies, increased port security and the USA Patriot Act.

"All of these things have made us safer in the sense that it has been more difficult for al-Qaida to mount an attack on our homeland," he said.

A referendum on Iraq

The war in Iraq is the most high-profile difference between Pederson and Kyl, and it has recently become the focus of the race.

Pederson has been critical of the war, characterizing it as a dead end. He recently released an ad citing the more than 2,700 soldiers who have died and the need to withdraw our troops to forward bases.

Emboldened by the recent release of the National Intelligence Estimate, which found that the war in Iraq has increased terrorism, Pederson hit the campaign trail last week with retired Gen. Wesley Clark. This week, he stumped with former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam veteran, triple amputee and former head of the Veterans Administration.

"We have a military that's on the streets of Baghdad serving a role as a policeman or a referee in a cultural civil war," Pederson said.

On most issues, Pederson follows Democratic Party lines.

He pledged to increase benefits for veterans, has called for a 25 percent cut in the payroll tax, which he says will ultimately benefit workers, and is a proponent of increasing the minimum wage. He supports the Arizona ballot initiative that would raise it to $6.75 an hour.

Pederson's immigration plan is modeled after the one McCain sponsored in the spring, and it offers a path to citizenship for illegal entrants without criminal backgrounds.

They would have to pay fines for entering illegally, and there would also be an English-learning requirement.

In person, Pederson has often played a folksy sort of character with supporters.

Kyl's Tucson campaign events have been at the upscale Arizona Inn and the affluent community of SaddleBrooke.

Pederson, a multimillionaire who has spent more than $8 million of his own money on the race, has held forums at union halls.

In interviews he often, at least in appearance, strays from his talking points to reminisce about growing up in Casa Grande or building a business.

While reflecting recently on his run for Senate, his thoughts turned to his late parents. He said he wished they could have seen his business success and subsequent run for Senate.

"I wish my parents were alive today," he said with a tone of appreciation.

While Pederson has been critical of Kyl and the war, he has struggled with his message.

"Pederson, on some level, he is still filling in the picture of who he is and what he thinks," said Duffy of the Cook Political Report.

"It's one thing to have the money, but you gotta have the message," said Merrill, the ASU political pollster.

This is particularly apparent when Pederson talks about Iraq and the war on terror.

For example, Pederson said if he were senator, he would have voted for recent detainee legislation, which Kyl supported.

The legislation establishes rules for military commissions, allowing prosecution of high-level terrorists. However, it also strips detainees of habeas corpus, which is essentially the right to challenge their detentions in court.

"I would have voted for it, not that I was happy with the legislation," Pederson said.

He then said he was concerned about its potential to violate the Geneva Conventions as well as the suspension of habeas corpus.

If he wasn't happy with the legislation, why vote for it?

"Because it's a start," he said. "A start toward finally adjudicating some of these people that are terrorists."

Vote split in Pima County

Despite Pederson's Democratic pedigree, not everyone in the party seems to be willing to pull the lever for him.

Even though he ran unopposed in the September primary, he received nearly 15,000 fewer votes than Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. He also received about 8,500 fewer votes than Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard.

Pederson believes that those voters will come back to him as his name recognition continues to improve, but he admitted overtaking Kyl would be an uphill battle. Kyl is, after all, a two-term incumbent and member of the majority party.

If the race is going to tighten, Merrill said it's going to tighten in predominantly Democratic Pima County, where Kyl and Pederson are splitting the vote.

"(Democrats) can't split Pima County and win," Merrill said.

● Contact reporter Josh Brodesky at 434-4086 or jbrodesky@azstarnet.com.



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©The Arizona Daily Star, 2006

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