Come November, we’re gonna have an election hereabouts. Just like you. Our cactus-littered landscape is hard to see, at the moment, for all the campaign signs.
We live in “Lizard Acres.” Old railroad siding sign is still there. That’s what this couple thousand acres of sand and scorpions was called until Del Webb and his minions hauled in the palm trees and developed it all. Now, we’re just one more senior-populated campus in the national Webb family.
But, I digress. We were talking elections. Ours is historically a blood red state which the Sunday pundits now call “purple.” A number of curious things have happened in the last year or two to possibly change our political color.
For one, a few miles from our home, Sen. John McCain is in his last days. But, he - or someone on his staff - is still cranking out news releases taking the GOP to task.
McCain’s impending death has brought out several GOP “candidacies.” Never heard of most of ‘em. One seeking to replace McCain is our local twice-convicted felon. His large signs on every sandy corner for miles around read “Sheriff Joe Arpaio for Senate.” Trump may have pardoned the bastard but he’s still twice-convicted and should be doing hard time. Since voters finally turned him out of one elected office, it’s doubtful he’ll go anywhere.
Then, there’s our other Senate seat. Jeff Flake has already announced his “retirement.” He’s not “retiring.” He’s quitting. Seems some internal polling a few months back showed him running a poor second to Wile Coyote. And just about anyone else. He was a political accident in the first place. But, “He’s a nice looking fellow.”
We’ve got more women running than usual. One trying for the House - Dr. Hiral Tippirenini - is worth watching. She’s a forty-something pediatrician. Very smart, good on her feet, makes a good presentation and is much more up on the issues than her competition.
Couple of others in various congressional races. All out of the legislature. The two leading have repeated problems handling previous campaign funds. Which doesn’t seem to matter much anymore. They’ll do fine.
Campaign signs everywhere. Almost none identify the candidate’s party affiliation. Generally, blue-and-white is Democrat and red-and-white Republican. But not always.
We’ve got our share of political miscreants. Legislators, mostly. One got pulled over last week for doing 97 in a 55 zone. He promptly told the cop he’d previously been doing 120 and once up to 140! Then, he told the officer he was a legislator, claimed his immunity and drove off. He’s far from being the only scofflaw under our Capitol dome.
An odd thing here. Our county population is just over four million souls. City, county and school board elections are mixed right in with state and national races. So, U.S. Senatorial gets about as much space and notice as the local councilman. Makes for far more TV ads, signs and ballot confusion. Also, a huge ballot!
Whether we’re actually living in a “purple” state is an open question. We’ve got some officeholders who ought to be replaced. At all levels. Federal, especially. Nearly all our GOP delegation has contributed generously to the absolute stalemate and Republican gutlessness in D.C.. Half are with that boneheaded “freedom caucus” bunch. Have accomplished nothing. Will accomplish nothing. “Roots in the cistern,” as an old uncle used to say.
We’ll try hard to get rid of ours. Please. You do the same. Maybe we can regain control of this out-of-control train wreck engineered by that former real estate broker. God knows, nobody else is going to do it.