President Bush

President Bush is expected to do a little official sight-seeing in the East Valley before he appears at a John McCain/GOP fund-raiser in Phoenix on Tuesday evening, May 27.

The White House, however, had not released the daytime portion of the president’s schedule as of Thursday, May 22. Those details are likely to be released Friday, according to a White House spokesman.

A real-life consideration associated with any presidential visit is traffic congestion. Depending on when the president is shuttled from location to location Tuesday, the typically slow East Valley-to-Phoenix and Phoenix-to-the East Valley commutes are certain to slog down even more than usual.

I’ll post more details when they become available. 

Newt Gingrich

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the architect of the 1994 “Republican Revolution,” is scheduled as the headline speaker for a Goldwater Institute luncheon in Phoenix on Friday.

Gingrich will discuss his new book, “Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works,” and the fall presidential campaign.

Here’s the details…

What: Goldwater Institute luncheon featuring Newt Gingrich

When: VIP reception at 11 a.m., followed by lunch at noon, Friday, May 16.

Where: The Biltmore Resort, 2400 E. Missouri Road in Phoenix

Cost: $35 for members, $50 for non-members and $250 for the VIP reception

Info: www.goldwaterinstitute.org or (602) 462-5000

Executives with the Arizona Chapter of the AFL-CIO planned to mobilize their members to demonstrate outside a GOP fundraiser featuring President Bush.

The event in Phoenix on May 27 will benefit John McCain’s presidential campaign and several GOP campaign committees.

“McCain did tell the truth he said he would be proud to have Bush campaign for him,” union spokeswoman Dana Marie Kennedy said in a statement.

“I guess it is payback time for all the times McCain stuck by Bush and his failed economic policies. McCain is a strong supporter of NAFTA and believes it has helped jobs,” she said in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Tell that to all be people who have lost jobs oversees.”

Information about the fund-raiser is available through McCain campaign executive Andrea Tyler Evans at (602) 488-5959 or aveans@mccain08hq.com.

President Bush is set to headline a high-dollar campaign event in Phoenix later this month to benefit Republican candidate John McCain.

The political fund-raiser is designed to appeal to deep-pocketed contributors who can donate as much as $37,000 at once. The event actually is a joint production of seven different campaign organizations, which will allow contributors to spread their money around.

The organizations: John McCain 2008, John McCain 2008 General election Compliance Fund, the Republican National Committee, and the state Republican parties for Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

The first $2,300 from every contribution, according to the organizers, is earmarked for the John McCain 2008 committee, which is the candidate’s official campaign organization.

The next $2,300 is slated for the Compliance Fund, which is a source of revenue that’s intended to help defray certain allowable expenses, including office overhead expenditures and computer and Web site costs.

The balance of each contribution will be split evenly between the RNC and the state parties, which operate independently of McCain’s campaign and benefit Republican candidates at the national and state levels, respectively.

McCain campaign officials did not immediately return a call for comment.Meanwhile, Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman Emily Bittner said it’s fitting that Bush is lined up as the featured speaker. “This is further evidence that what John McCain really represents is a third Bush term,” she said.

Here’s the details…

WHAT: John McCain fundraiser featuring President Bush

WHEN: 5:30 p.m., May 27

WHERE: Phoenix Convention Center, West Building, 100 N. Third St., Phoenix

INFO: Andrea Tyler Evans at (602) 488-5959 or aveans@mccain08hq.com 

Elaine Chao

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao will serve as the keynote speaker for Arizona’s Manufacturer of the Year Awards luncheon next month.

The event showcases “Arizona’s manufacturing community and the contributions its members make to the state both economically and socially,” according to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The luncheon is set for 11:30 a.m., May 20, at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road, in Scottsdale. Tickets are $150 for members and $175 for non-members. Information is available at (480) 634-3898.

John McCain’s biggest challenge between now and Nov. 4 is to say focused, said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who traveled with McCain on Super Tuesday and Just Getting By On Coffee Wednesday.

“His world is about to change,” Lindsay told reporters at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport before boarding McCain’s jet for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning.

“The more presumptive nominee status you obtain, the more security you’re going to have, and the relationship he has with y’all may change a bit. But I’d hate to be the Secret Service agent who told him he couldn’t talk to y’all,” said the native South Carolinian.

McCain has been becoming more mentally prepared every day for the rigors of becoming the presumptive nominee, party leader and president, Graham said.

 “There’s nobody I’ve ever met more prepared to lead this country in the times in which we live. The challenges are great. They’re immense. And John has paid a heavy price for what he believes in life,” he said.

“He’s sacrificed for his country – and I don’t think it’s an accident that God has kept him around all these years. He’s got one last mission to go on. I really, honest to God believe that, that he’s here for a reason and his next assignment will be as commander in chief,” Graham said.

Bill and Hillary Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton was on his best behavior during a campaign rally for his wife and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Tempe.

After making a series of remarks that were considered hostile toward fellow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in previous weeks, he barely mentioned Obama at Arizona State University.And when Bill Clinton did mention Obama, either by name or inference, he had only positive things to say.

He started his hour-plus speech by giving a recap of the televised Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Obama, which was broadcast when everyone at the rally was standing in line waiting to get in.

Bill Clinton reported that they had a civilized discussion about the issues. He said, “They told some of the people in this country who have been using their positions to try to divide the Democrats that we are going to be united in November.”

Perhaps Bill Clinton was referring to himself as one of “those people.”

 At the end of his speech, he sort of mentioned Obama again.

 “Do I think it will be a great thing when we have our first woman president? Of course, I do,” he said.

“I have to tell you, I think it will be a great thing when we have our first African-American president, our first Hispanic president, our first Asian-American, our first Native-American president, our first Arab-American president, our first Jewish president, our first Muslim president, our first you-name-it president. America is not about catagories. America is about ideas and all of us ought to be part of a common humanity,” he said.

A couple of other observations…

Bill Clinton’s speech was something of a rerun of Hilliary Clinton’s speech the week before in Laveen.

They both covered healthcare, energy, global warming, education and foreign policy. They both took a couple of jabs at President Bush. They both asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they knew someone without health insurance. They both talked up Al Gore. They even told the same antidote about an injured Iraq war veteran that Hillary Clinton met.

 There were a couple of important differences though.

Hillary Clinton moved through her version of her stump speech in 37 minutes. Bill Clinton labored through his version of her stump speech in one hour, three minutes. And while I didn’t count, it seemed like Hillary Clinton got far more laughs than Bill Clinton managed. She also seemed to get more buy-in from the crowd.

Hillary Clinton gave a rally speech. Bill Clinton gave a policy lecture.

Whoever thought that Hillary Clinton could ever supersede Bill Clinton in the speech-making department?

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton announced plans to campaign in the Valley this week, moves that underscore the importance both Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns are placing on Arizona.

Arizona will conduct its presidential preference election Feb. 5, one of two dozen states that will stage primary elections and caucuses on Super Duper Tuesday.Obama is set to headline a rally Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, at 1826 W. McDowell Road, in Phoenix. The former home of the Phoenix Suns accommodates 14,870 spectators.

The doors are scheduled to open at 3:30 p.m., though the exact time of Obama’s appearance has yet to be set. The senator for Illionois is slated to speak at a rally in Colorado, another Super Duper Tuesday state, earlier in the day.Obama last appeared in Arizona at Arizona State University in Tempe on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton campaign officials confirmed that former President Bill Clinton will campaign for his wife in the Valley on Thursday, the specific time and location have yet to be confirmed.

Bill Clinton will follow the public appearance with a private fund-raiser at the home of former state Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson later in the evening.

Hilliary Clinton appeared for an overflow crowd at a high school in Laveen last week and spoke to Arizona reporters in a conference call today, Jan. 28. Hillary Clinton had a 6 percentage point lead against Obama in the lastest statewide poll in Arizona, but Obama is gaining… 

Actress Kate Walsh

TV hottie Kate Walsh and Gov. Janet Napolitano are set to appear together to talk up Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at Arizona State University at 11:45 a.m. today, Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Walsh, who stars as Dr. Addison Montgomery in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” apparently has a bit of time to burn as the Hollywood writers’ strike lingers on. She’s scheduled to make several campaign stops around the state for Obama. 

She grew up partly in Tucson where she attended Catalina High School. She later attended the University of Arizona. If she really wants to help Obama, she probably ought to gloss over that little UA aspect of her bio while she’s stumping at ASU.

She also appears in Cadillac commercials to purr the line, “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” Let’s see if she can work that line into a campaign speech for Obama. 

The event is set for the ASU Memorial Union Stage, 1290 S. Normal Ave., in Tempe.

Napolitano also has been doing a bit of campaigning for Obama. She appeared in Nevada before that state’s Jan. 19 primary election. Obama finished second to Hillary Clinton there. 

Arizona’s presidential primary election is Feb. 5.

National Republican Committee spokesman Paul Lindsay offered this observation about the event, “
Hollywood stars and establishment Democrats like Janet Napolitano cannot mask Barack Obama’s paper thin record of accomplishment.  Aside from his lofty political rhetoric, Obama has given voters in
Arizona little reason to be convinced that he is qualified to serve as our nation’s commander-in-chief.” 

Well, that settles that. Obama definitely does not turn on Lindsay.

Bill Clinton and Jim Pederson in 2006

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign announced the formation of a state steering committee, a panel of nearly 50 political, business and community leaders on Wednesday.

State campaign co-chairwoman Mary Rose Wilcox also said the campaign will open a Tucson office this week. Clinton already has an office in Phoenix. She said the campaign also is expanding its door-to-door campaign and phone banking operations.

The state’s presidential preference election is Feb. 5, one 22 states that will conduct their elections or caucuses on the day that has been dubbed Super Duper Tuesday.

Clinton steering committee member Jim Pederson said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of our direct mail and our phones. Hopefully, we’ll have a slice of TV coming in here.”

Pederson, a shopping center developer, ran an unsuccessful campaign against Republican incumbent Sen. Jon Kyl in 2006. Bill Clinton made two appearances in Arizona to support Pederson’s bid.

Wilcox, a Maricopa County Supervisor, said she expects Hillary Clinton to campaign in Arizona sometime later this month.

She said the campaign got a boost last week when Gov. Janet Napolitano endorsed Hillary Clinton’s opponent Barack Obama last week. “It’s energized our campaign. I think people were so surprised. Now we’re getting people coming in saying, ‘I’m coming in because I want her to win. The governor supported somebody else, but I’m supporting her because I want her to win.’”

Fellow steering committee member and state Rep. Robert Meza said Clinton campaign leaders will be happy to welcome Napolitano aboard as soon as Clinton secures the Democratic nomination.

For more about Clinton’s and Obama’s efforts in Arizona, check out a longer article I wrote for the Tribune a few days ago.