The Politico

Jim Swift, a 24-year-old staffer in Sen. Jon Kyl’s office in Washington, got plenty of love last week in an article that appeared in The Politico, a Washington-based newspaper.

The Oct. 11 story by reporter Richard T. Cullen discusses how construction of a new Capitol Visitor Center threatens to halt tours led by staffers assigned to various senators and representatives. To help illustrate the story, Cullen trailed Swift on Oct. 2 as he led a Tucson family on tour of the Capitol that started at Kyl’s office.

According to Cullen’s account, Swift, a 2006 marketing graduate from St. Louis University, makes a terrific tour guide. Cullen writes, “Personable, energetic – and even good with kids – he infuses his tours with a distinctly Arizonan flavor. He’s also mastered the backward walk so necessary in conducting successful tours — a skill that keeps him in constant and amiable conversation with home-state constituents.”

Cullen notes that under current proposed rules, Swift and other staffers like him will be banned from giving personal tours after the new visitor center opens in November 2008. Instead, professional tour guides will give group tours without state-specific embellishments.

The issue has risen to top levels within the Senate and House. Certain members want to preserve staff-led tours, which seems like an excellent idea, as long as people like Swift lead them. The full Politico article can be accessed here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6289.html.

E-mailer Howard Nute wrote to me today about my use of the word “kerflooey” on the TV talk-show program Horizon on Friday evening. He suggested, as host Richard Ruelas did on air, that kerflooey may not be an actual word. Nute wrote, “Is that damn UA journalism degree getting you where you need to be?”

Sometimes I find that the existing accepted limits of the English language just aren’t wide enough to fully express every nuance in my broad range of critical thinking. Thus, the need to invent words from time to time.

So for the benefit of Nute, Ruelas and anyone who tuned in Friday, here’s a definition:

Kerflooey: n., the consequence of an idea, policy or law devised by Arizona politicians in which the results are sudden, far from their intended purpose, and detrimental to the public good.

Or something like that…

Barack Obama

Details of presidential candidate Barack Obama’s first big campaign event in Arizona are in: He’ll headline a rally at Hayden Lawn, on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus at 10 a.m. Friday. Admission is free.

It will be interesting to see if he draws the devoted crowds he drew during the fall when he appeared at a rally in Tempe for Democratics Harry Mitchell, who sought (and won) a U.S. House seat; and Jim Pederson, who sought (and lost) a U.S. Senate seat.

Obama certainly was the flavor of the day in the fall. Frequently what happens during elections though is that the longer an election goes, the more reasons voters find to not like candidates.

Obama also will appear at a fund-raiser luncheon at the Wyndham Phoenix hotel, at 50 E. Adams St., in Phoenix, at 12:30 p.m. Friday. That one’s not free. The suggested donation is $500 each. VIP admission is $2,300 each.

Barack Obama

The last time Barack Obama made a public appearance in Arizona, he came to support the 2006 campaigns of Democratic candidates Harry Mitchell for the U.S. House and Jim Pederson for the U.S. Senate.

The Arizona guys got a fair amount of applause, of course. But the politician from Illinois received the loudest and most enthusiastic response that day outside Tempe City Hall. It was a regular love-in. And Obama wasn’t even a presidential candidate at the time.

He’s scheduled to return to the Valley for more campaign appearances on Friday, Oct. 19. This time, it will be for his own campaign, though.

He’s set for a fundraiser luncheon at the Wyndham Phoenix hotel, at 50 E. Adams St., in Phoenix, starting at 12:30 p.m. The requested contribution for tickets is $500 a person. VIP tickets are $2,300 each. Information is available at asmith@barackobama.com and (310) 277-2008.

Obama’s campaign aides also are trying to put together a rally earlier in the day. No details on that yet, though.

Mitt Romney (right)

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is slated to make a brief campaign stop in Phoenix on Thursday. In fact, it will be so quick, the Republican contender will never leave the airport. Romney will conduct a press conference at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at 3 p.m. His aides said Romney is scheduled to visit three states Thursday.

The former governor of Massachusetts easily is the most frequent Arizona campaigner among presidential candidates in both parties. He’s even ahead of Arizona’s Sen. John McCain on that front.

Harry Mitchell

Republican political strategists see plenty of opportunity in Arizona’s 5^th Congressional District. They note that Republicans have a sizable advantage in terms of voter registration for the district that takes in Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee Foothills and west Mesa.

Specifically, 43 percent of registered voters are Republican, while 29 percent are independents and only 27 percent are Democrats.

Yet the district is represented by Democrat freshman Harry Mitchell, a retired high school civics teacher, who unseated six-term Republican incumbent J.D. Hayworth last year.

Those same Republican strategists refuse to concede the district as a new Democratic bastion. They insist Hayworth lost the district more than Mitchell won it. Their argument is that while Hayworth’s foaming-at-the-mouth approach to campaigning and life in general played to a certain fringe subset of voters, his approach didn’t play well to the educated voter base in the 5^th District.

GOP insiders suggest that the district will swing back as soon as a likeable Republican runs. Even though most Republicans are reluctant to discuss the topic on the record, they firmly believe it. Consider this: Six Republicans are positioning themselves to run against Mitchell.

Former state Rep. Laura Knaperek and lobbyist Jim Ogsbury are in. Plus, state Rep. Mark Anderson, former Scottsdale councilwoman Susan Bitter Smith, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller, and Maricopa County treasurer Dave Schweikert are taking long, looong looks.

Mitchell, who was talking up a tax-cut plan in Scottsdale on Monday, scoffed at the notion that Hayworth blew the election.

“You know, that kind of reminds me of when somebody says, ‘The reason this team won this football game is because of all the mistakes the other team made.’ Well, the reason the other team made all the mistakes is because they played a good football team,” Mitchell said.

“They can say the reason I won is because J.D. lost it. I’m not going to brag or anything, but maybe we ran a better campaign,” Mitchell said. “I’m always amazed when they don’t give a team credit for causing mistakes, the turnovers and all the other things in a football game. ‘Ah, well, they weren’t playing their normal game!’ Well, there were reasons they didn’t.”

In that case, Mitchell ran a Super Bowl-quality campaign, because nearly a year later, Hayworth still is foaming at the mouth. Only now, instead of doing it at debates and press conferences, he’s doing it on the radio.

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