Thread: Obama re-election campaign targets Arizona - SB1070

By David Jackson, USA TODAY

Last week's recall election defeat of the Republican legislator who wrote Arizona's tough anti-immigration law and the seating of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson have given Democrats renewed hope for picking up the state in next year's Senate and presidential elections.

President Obama's re-election campaign is touting what it sees as good signs from the traditionally Republican state of Arizona.Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt tweeted out an Associated Press article on the recall of an Arizona Republican legislator who backed the state's tough anti-immigration law, as well as the elections of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson.

"Expanding the map," LaBolt tweeted. "More signs AZ will be competitive in '12."
Arizona Democrats hail the victories as signs that the state is turning their way; Republicans say not so fast.
Historically, Republicans are favored by voters in Arizona, which has gone Republican in every presidential election since 1952 except for Bill Clinton's re-election in 1996.

That includes two Arizonans nominated for president: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and John McCain (against Obama) in 2008.
From the Associated Press:

Last week's recall election defeat of the Republican legislator who wrote Arizona's tough anti-immigration law and the seating of Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson have given Democrats renewed hope for picking up the state in next year's Senate and presidential elections.

Combined, the outcomes underscored the diversity of voters in what many view as a conservative state even though voters here are split nearly in thirds among Republicans, independents and Democrats.

The Democratic Party argued that Tuesday's recall of state Senate President Russell Pearce was evidence of a broader shift to the left that will reverberate in 2012.

"For the first time in 20 years, we will have Democratic mayors of Tucson and Phoenix," state Democratic Party Chairman Andrei Cherny wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "And for the first time in American history, a state legislative leader -- the most powerful politician in Arizona -- was recalled from office. These are victories for all Arizonans -- ones that six months ago would have seemed all but impossible."

"A year from now, when we are looking back on Election Day 2012, we will point to last night as where things turned around for our party and state," he added.

Republicans dismissed Tuesday's results as coming from an "abnormal election" funded by out-of-state interests upset by Arizona's 2010 enactment of the groundbreaking immigration enforcement law known as SB1070.

"They thought this proved a point. It didn't," said Arizona GOP chairman Tom Morrissey. "It will all be undone in the next election. It was a power grab by the left. They won a battle; they have not won the war by any means."
But the rhetoric, new polls and the emphasis being put on Arizona by the Democrats and President Barack Obama's campaign indicates that the state -- which on the surface appears solidly red with its two longtime Republican U.S. Senators, a GOP near-sweep of statewide offices and one of the country's most conservative legislatures -- is heading into the 2012 elections solidly purple.


Source: Obama re-election campaign targets Arizona

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