The best political speech I’ve heard in some time was delivered by Republican presidential candidate Michael P. Shaw, who wore sunglasses and a T-shirt that read “Geek Squad” to a public event at the State Capitol on Tuesday.

State elections officials, campaign workers and a number of reporters had gathered at the Capitol to watch Secretary of State Jan Brewer conduct a drawing to determine the order that the names of
Arizona’s 48 official candidates will appear ballots for the presidential preference election is Feb. 5.

I wrote about the event in Tuesday’s paper. The newspaper version of the story can be accessed here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/104747

Shaw was one of two presidential candidates who attended the drawing. He stayed afterward as a press conference broke out. Shaw watched the Q&A session for a while, then objected quite strongly when I asked Brewer whether she thought political pranksters had juked the system to get their names on the official ballots.

I included part of Shaw’s speech in the paper. Here’s the whole rant.

“I have a question: How much experience do you think the Congress and President Bush have? They have a lot of experience and they’ve ran the country into the ground,” Shaw said.

“So this guy asking the question, it was really directed toward me. Why am I here? I’m here to represent the ’hood, because nobody else is representing the ’hood. And Bush and everyone else who’s got all the experience – all the experience – have run the country into the ground! It’s like the
Valdez oil spill. And that’s what the country’s turning into,” Shaw said.

“That’s why I’m here, sir, because I can do a better job than what’s being done right now, sir! So that question you had asked, sir, was to me, sir! And I’m here because I am a registered voter, sir. I voted for Bush two times in the past eight years. I’ve been a Republican for 10 years, 17 years in Homeland Security, 10 years as a truck driver. Street credibility is insurmountable, sir!” he said.

“And that’s why I’m here, because I worked from the bottom and worked my way up. I’m not going to start at the top and work my way down,” he said.

At that point, Shaw pushed his chair away from a table in the crowded conference room, striking the knees of a man sitting behind him. “Hey man, you just lost my vote!” the other man said.

“I didn’t know I had votes,” Shaw responded. “I didn’t come here for votes. I came here represent the hood.” He apologized to the other man and left the room.

It should be noted that while it was my question that set off Shaw, the presidential candidate directed his rant toward Capitol Media Services reporter Howard Fischer, who wasn’t even standing that close to me when I asked the question.

Fischer politely took notes.

Check in again at www.evtrib.com on Thursday. I have another interesting story about
Arizona’s quirky presidential preference election…

The White House

Sandy Whitehouse, who is one of Arizona’s official presidential candidates, is running for the White House on the strength of her name. Naturally.

“I’m running for president because my name is Whitehouse,” Whitehouse said. If elected, she said will consolidate the first and second lines of all presidential correspondence, thus saving the federal government money associated with printing the words “President Whitehouse” and the words “White House” on letterhead.

She told me that the savings would be used to fund universal healthcare, education for all children, grants to stop global warming and a guest-worker program. Furthermore, she would halt federal funding for war profiteers, atom bombs, fusion bombs, uranium weaponry, big talk and threats to under-developed third-world countries.

“I figure with those two objectives, I will be able to fund all the things this country needs,” said Whitehouse, a Democrat. Furthermore, she’s retired, so she has enough time on her hands to run the country, she said.

Whitehouse is a great-grandmother who lives in Corona De Tucson, which is just outside of
Tucson. She married into her presidential-sounding name decades ago. Her husband, Bruce Whitehouse, is Corona De Tucson’s fire chief. “It’s a good English name,” she said.

Whitehouse said she is running a self-funded campaign to avoid the scourge of lobbyists. So far, she has spent a total of 41 cents, which was used to buy a stamp to send her nominating paperwork to the Secretary of State’s Office, though she may double or even triple her cash outlay before Feb. 5.

Whitehouse said she is prepared to debate all her Democratic opponents, even frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I like Hillary. I’m particularly found of her choice of husbands,” she said.

Whitehouse said she is counting on her own husband to vote for her, which brings her current projected vote count to precisely four. She said she is trying to secure three more – two grandchildren and a grandson-in-law. “I’ll have seven votes. And the way this is spread out over a large field, I could win, because I think that’s a solid block,” she said.

Consider the list of candidates who filed the necessary paperwork by Friday afternoon.

On the Democratic side, ballots will feature a “Who’s Who” selection of national candidates that includes Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

Yet, Democratic ballots also will feature a “Who’s That?” slate of candidates that includes people named Peter “Simon” Bollander, William Campbell, Edward Dobson, Tish Haymer, Rich Lee, Frank Lynch, Leland Montell, Michael Oatman, Chuck See, Philip Tanner, Evelyn Vitullo and Sandy Whitehouse.

On the Republican side, the “Who’s Who” side of the ledger features national candidates Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

The GOP “Who’s That?” selection includes people named Hugh Cort, Jerry Curry, John Michael Fitzpatrick, Bob Forthan, Daniel Gilbert, Frank McEnulty, John R. McGrath, James Creighton Mitchell Jr., David Ruben, Michael P. Shaw, Jack Shepard and Charles Skelley.

At least 13 of the presidential candidates live in Tucson and appear to have exactly zero political experience and zero hope of being elected.

“You know, I cannot comment officially on any of that other than to tell you that the process for appearing on the presidential preference ballot is different than it is to appear in the primary election,” said state election director Joe Kanefield told me.

The process to appear on the presidential primary ballots requires little more than completing a notarized two-page form affirming that the candidate is a natural born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and has been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.

State law for primary elections, such as those for the U.S. Senate and governor’s office, are different. Primary elections require candidates to gather petitions from other registered voters.

Kanefield said he was a loss to explain the surge of presidential aspirants from Tucson, though the surge of would-be candidates certainly could have something to do with Project White House, an effort by the Tucson Weekly, an alternative newspaper based in the Old Pueblo. Yeah, just maybe.

According to its Web site, Tucson Weekly is encouraging its readers to run for office with the promise of giving ink to those candidates its editors deem newsworthy. Kanefield said elections officials will continue to accept applications until 5 p.m. today, Monday, Dec. 17. “We just receive these things and ensure that they’re in proper order. If so, then they will be certified for the ballot of Feb. 5,” he said.

Arizona has a reputation for attracting a broad field for its presidential preference elections. In 2004, 18 candidates appeared on the Democratic ballot. The Republicans didn’t conduct a similar election that year because President Bush was running for a second term.

Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer will oversee a drawing in her Phoenix office Tuesday to determine the order in which all the candidates’ names will appear on the 2008 Democratic and Republican ballots. The candidates themselves are invited to attend.

Mike Huckabee

Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee are expected to become official candidates in
Arizona’s presidential preference elections soon.

Campaign officials for Obama were expected to file the necessary paperwork with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office today, Thursday, Dec. 13, while campaign officials for Huckabee were expected to do likewise Friday, Dec. 14.

Obama and Huckabee certainly go on the “Who’s Who” side of the ledger, rather than the “Who’s That?” side.

To date, the “Who’s Who” candidates who will appear on ballots in Arizona on Feb. 5 are Republicans Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney; plus Democrats Obama, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards and Mike Gravel.

The list of “Who’s That?” candidates who also will appear on ballots are Republicans named John Fitzpatrick, Daniel Gilbert, John McGratch and Jack Shepard; plus Democrats named Frank Lynch, Leland Montell, Philip Tanner and Evelyn Vitullo.

Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani

Aides for presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul filed the necessary paperwork at the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday to be included in
Arizona’s presidential preference election on Feb. 5.

To date, the list features eight Republicans and seven Democrats. Both sides include several mystery candidates.

The Republicans: Known candidates Giuliani, Paul, Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney, plus people named John Fitzpatrick, Daniel Gilbert, John McGratch and Jack Shepard.

The Democrats: Known candidates Christopher Dodd, John Edwards and Mike Gravel, plus people named Frank Lynch, Leland Montell, Philip Tanner and Evelyn Vitullo.

Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Kevin Tyne noted that according to Arizona law, prospective candidates need only be U.S. citizens to appear on the ballot. “As in year’s past, we have citizens who know that and just get their names on the list,” Tyne said. “They don’t necessarily have campaign committees or are nationally involved.”

According to Shepard’s candidacy paperwork, he lives in Rome – yes,
Rome, Italy.

The Secretary of State’s Office will continue to collect paperwork from presidential candidates until 5 p.m., Dec. 17. State officials will draw lots for the order in which the names appear on the ballot at 10 a.m., Dec. 18.

Matt Salmon

Former U.S. representative and soon-to-be former Arizona resident Matt Salmon told me Tuesday that two highlights of his time in public office were passage of a federal law that prompted states to enforce life sentences against murderers, rapists and child molesters; and his work to free an imprisoned scholar in China.

That story can be accessed here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/103378

Interestingly, the low point of his political career came years after he left public office, when law enforcement officials arrested a number of former colleagues public corruption and related crimes.

Salmon said, “The one that broke me up the most, because I had looked up so much to him, was when I heard on the radio that Duke Cunningham had been indicted on bribery and many other things. I actually had to pull off my car to the side of the road, because I couldn’t see through the tears. It was a very, very hard thing for me.”

He said, “I always try to look for the best in people, and when I saw some of my colleagues engaged in those kinds of activities, especially people that I thought stood for a lot more, that was just a very, very sad thing for me, very, very disillusioning.”

Cunningham, a Republican representative from California, admitted in November 2005 that he accepted $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. In exchange, he used his influence to guide federal contracts to to contractors. Cunningham was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. Hearing the news that Cunningham had been arrested, Salmon said, was more difficult than losing the governor’s race to Democrat opponent Janet Napolitano in 2002.

Salmon said, “I worked my guts out, but I think in retrospect, I think she probably did me a big favor. I thing for a conservative Republican, honestly, in this state, I don’t think I would have been given nearly as many passes, as many do-overs.”

He said, “I just think it would have been really tough for me, because in tough budget times, my response would to dramatically cut spending and to get our priorities back in order that way. Obviously, that’s really painful, and I think, honestly, the press would have been a lot less forgiving to me than they have been to the current governor, so she probably did me a big favor.”

On a personal note, I’ll miss Salmon. His political career and my journalism career were intertwined in a small, but significant way. Back in 1994 when Salmon was running for Congress the first time, I worked as reporter at the weekly Phoenix Business Journal. The Tempe Chamber of Commerce planned to hold a candidate’s forum and a Chamber executive invited me to be on a panel to quiz the candidates on business-related topics.

I met Salmon for the first time that night at the forum. He was friendly and polite, just like every other time I have bumped into him during the years since. I also made another contact that night, a contact that led to an interview for an open position at the East Valley Tribune. About a week after Salmon took his new job in the U.S. House, I took a new job at the Tribune.

Although I always took a particular interest in the career of the guy I interviewed in front of an audience that night, I never covered Salmon much. While he was in Congress, I was on the business beat. Then about the same time he left Congress and moved into the business sector, I switched to the political beat. During that whole time, I might have spoken to him a couple of dozen times. Alas…

Forget any legislation or foreign affairs coup, in my book, Salmon distinguished himself with his honestly, thoughtfulness, good humor and gentlemanly demeanor — in any and all circumstances. Arizona would benefit from more people like Salmon, not fewer.

University of Phoenix Stadium

Just pondering a quirk of schedules here…

Feb. 3 will be Super Sunday, when the Super Bowl will be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

Feb. 5 will be Super Duper Tuesday, when Arizona will be among 23 states nationwide conducting their presidential primary elections.

I’m just going to ponder that for a while longer…

President Bush with Trent Lott (left) and Jon Kyl (right)

Jon Kyl appears to have a short and easy path to become Senate minority whip, the No. 2 leadership position among Republicans. 

The Washington-based newspaper Roll Call reported today that Republican Senators will gather in a special conference meeting to conduct their leadership elections on Dec. 6. Roll Call cited an e-mail sent to members Tuesday night. 

Meanwhile, Jennifer Duffy, editor of The Cook Political Report, a Washington-based newsletter, told me this morning that no other GOP senators have appeared on the scene to challenge Kyl for the post. 

 “They’ve done a pretty good job of clearing the field for him and avoiding a contentious race, which frankly, the party doesn’t need right now,” she said.

For more on this, check out my story in the Thursday edition of the Tribune here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/102936

Also, I will have one or two more items about Kyl here at Checking In later.

Lindsey Graham (left) and Jon Kyl (right), with Edward Kennedy

One reason Sen. Jon Kyl is getting plenty of juice for the Senate Republicans’ No. 2 post is that he knows how to work the system.

Consider this:

1) Newspapers from Arizona to Washington were onto the story that he was running for whip early Monday morning, even before the current whip, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi ,announced that he planned to retire before the end of the year. That’s evident because several newspapers, including the Tribune, posted stories before Lott’s public announcement.

2) When reporters from those same newspapers reached Kyl’s office in Phoenix, aides politely told them that Kyl was in the office, yet the third-term senator declined to discuss the topic. It’s understood that speaking about such things prematurely is against Washington protocol.

At this point, I’ll allow educated readers draw their own conclusions as to how all that occurred.

In contrast, one of Kyl’s close associates in the Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, was available for comment.

“I’m a huge Jon Kyl fan. I think he’s one of the most talented people we have in the Republican conference,” Graham told me. “He’s one of our best strategic and tactical thinkers. I’ve enjoyed working with him. He possesses a real keen intellect. I think Jon is a very smart fellow that understands politics about as well as anybody I’ve met.”

Nobody was arguing that point Monday.

Jon Kyl (second from left) and Trent Lott (right) in the Senate

Sen. Jon Kyl’s likely ascension to the No. 2 leadership position among Senate Republicans finally will push Arizona’s junior senator out of Sen. John McCain’s shadow, according to Brooks Simpson, a history professor at Arizona State
University.

If Kyl suceeds Sen. Trent Lott in the position, and that seems to be a given at the moment, he’ll get plenty of prime-time air time.

“It does potentially a great deal for Kyl’s career because then he would become one of the talking heads all the time, instead of the second choice. He would become much more of the image of the Republican Party than he had been up to now. And I think this does allow him to establish nationally – not just among Republicans, not just in the Southwest – an identity apart from McCain,” said Simpson, who has studied the
U.S. presidency.

In fact, Kyl is better suited than McCain to become minority whip, because Kyl is widely viewed as a party loyalist.“Kyl wants to establish his own reputation independent of McCain, and that’s perfectly understandable. Kyl isn’t nearly as concerned about winning the label ‘maverick’ or attracting voters who are undecided, independent, or even some marginal Democrats, the way McCain is,” Simpson said.

“If you look at what we identify with McCain in terms of what he’s done as a senator, it’s stuff that’s bipartisan. What you want from your minority leader and whips and things like that are party loyalists who are negotiating always from a position of strength. It seems to me that McCain, since 2000, always has seen himself more of a national figure than as a representative Republican, whereas Kyl has embraced the image of party workhorse. And that’s what gets you rewarded in terms of party leadership positions,” Simpson said.

And not to be overlooked, the increased national stature that comes with the whip position will make Kyl more appealing for a GOP presidential nominee to tab him for the No. 2 slot on a presidential ticket in 2008 or 2012, Simpson said. In that scenario, Kyl could be expected to pick up the conservative branch of the party if a moderate ends up with the nomination; or he could be expected to attract Western voters if an Easterner wins the nomination. Or both.

One problem with the idea of Kyl as veep, at least from my observations covering Kyl’s 2006 Senate re-election campaign, is that he’s genuinely uncomfortable on the campaign trail. And that was just a statewide election. The job may appeal to him, but the process to get the job will not.

In the meantime, Kyl’s presumed new clout as whip will make McCain and Kyl the most influential pair of lawmakers from Arizona to serve together since the 1970s when John Rhodes Jr. served as House Republican whip while Barry Goldwater served in the Senate, Simpson said.

For more on Kyl’s flirtation with the whip post, read my story in the Tribune here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/102753