Arizona Republican Party

U.S. Sen. John McCain: Getty Images PhotoThe Southwest regional headquarters of U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is now officially up and running, after a grand opening ceremony Friday that brought out prominent Arizona Republicans - including U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) - as well as up to 100 protesters denouncing the senator from Phoenix.

The new headquarters will house a call center and offices to coordinate efforts in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada - all of which, besides Arizona, are swing states that could prove vital to Sen. McCain winning the presidency. As the festivities got underway, the room was packed to the hilt with McCain supporters, including Arizona Republican Party officials, office holders and office seekers.

"Today is a very proud day," said Bettina Nava, Southwest Regional Director of McCain's campaign. "Arizona has always overwhelmingly to elect John McCain, and we think that history will continue."

Newly released data from Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer's office shows the Arizona Democratic Party has grown its ranks by almost 20,000 registered voters since March, over twice as many as new Republicans or independents added.

According to the Arizona Republican Party, though, the secretary of state's figures can be misleading, and don't take into account factors such as purges in voter rolls, the impact of the Democratic presidential primary and underhanded tactics by Democratically-affiliated groups.

"Democrats' efforts to move Arizona forward and put this country back on track are clearly moving new voters to register as Democrats," said Don Bivens, Arizona Democratic Party chairman, in a release announcing the numbers. "These new registration figures confirm our Party's upward trajectory in Arizona. These new registrations also confirm our excellent opportunities to pick up Congressional and state Legislative seats in November."

Democrats have been making strides toward leveling the playing field with their GOP rivals in terms of voter registration since the 2006 election, and now lag behind Arizona Republicans by around 110,000 voters. In 2006, Republicans had over 150,000 more voters than Democrats in Arizona.

The re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell says they've had trackers at their offices and at events, both in 2006 and this year. Seth Scott, Mitchell's campaign manager, additionally said the campaign's sentiments regarding tracking in the 5th Congressional District race have been mischaracterized, and that they are simply used to tracking, not practicioners of it.

"Congressman Mitchell has been followed around and videotaped by the other party for two years — whether in Washington or home in Arizona," Scott told PolitickerAZ.com via email. "In fact, just last week, we had someone at our office opening videotaping our supporters, our staff and the Congressman."

The Arizona Democratic Party admits it sent an employee to track attendees of a private fundraiser for 5th Congressional District Republican candidate Laura Knaperek, after the incident was exposed on the J.D. Hayworth Show.

Lauren Barnett, Knaperek's campaign manager, decried the incident Wednesday on the KFYI program of former congressman J.D. Hayworth, who was defeated as an incumbent by Harry Mitchell. According to Barnett, guests at a Knaperek fundraising event noticed a man taking pictures of people coming and going and the license plates of vehicles parked outside. The Knaperek campaign asked him who he was, and he told them his name was David Judd, and he worked for the Arizona Democratic Party.

"This is undemocratic, this is reprehensible. What ever happened to freedom of association?" asked Barnett on Hayworth's show.

Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party, said she doesn't see anything undemocratic or reprehensible about the Democrats keeping tabs on their opponents. 

"Of course we keep track of what Rep. Mitchell's opponents are saying and doing," said DeRose. "It's part of our due diligence as they run for office."

Even as tributes continue to pour in, the clock has started ticking to fill the seat of long-serving state legislator Jake Flake (R-Snowflake).

A citizens panel has been formed and has the task of picking three people who are eligible to replace Flake in the state Senate. According to a Republican Party insider, some names should start to surface soon. Flake's seat must be filled by a Republican.

Sen. Flake's passing has cast uncertainty on an election where Flake was running unopposed. A two-part process is under way to first fill his seat and to replace him on the primary ballot.

The Arizona Republican Party will be handling Sen. John McCain's fundraising in Arizona, according to Sean McCaffrey, the state party's executive director. This is evidence that the rift between the state and national parties, and more specifically the animus between McCain and the state party, has lessened.

"That intra-party stuff is behind us," said McCaffrey. "It's in the past."

The Arizona GOP, led by Chairman Randy Pullen, famously excoriated Sen. McCain over the senator's backing of the Bush immigration plan, which was wildly unpopular with the party's conservative base. Pullen was newly elected when the reform plan came up, and bad blood has existed ever since.

A report by RedArizona that Nathan Sproul is being relieved of his position as an adviser and fundraiser on state Sen. Tim Bee's campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords(AZ-8) is unfounded, according to a spokesman for Bee.

"There's nothing to those reports," said Tom Dunn, Bee's communications director. Dunn told PolitickerAZ.com that Sproul, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman and past Arizona Christian Coalition leader, was remaining on the campaign, and that his position remains unchanged.

RedArizona reported Sproul's exit late Thursday night, quoting "sources close to the senator" as saying: "Nathan Sproul will not be playing a direct role in the campaign." The sources told RedState that Sproul was leaving to work for a ballot initiative, "Stop Hiring Illegals," that would overturn an employer-sanctions law that Bee helped pass.

As of today, Tony Reinhard is the former communications manager for the Arizona Republican Party, and the new executive director of the Maricopa County Republican Party. The move comes after only five months as being spokesman for the Arizona GOP.

"My sincere thanks go out to the AZGOP and the staff here," said Reinhard in an email. "The past five months have been a great learning experience and I look forward to working in conjunction with them to keep Arizona a solidly 'Red State.'"

Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, will be acting as interim spokesman until a replacement can be found.

"We're very happy Tony has the opportunity to work with the county party," said Brett Mecum, who is the state party's political director.

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen appeared with the sole remaining challenger to Sen. John McCain's presidential nomination at an event in Phoenix last night. Though this has rankled some Arizona Republicans who perceive disloyalty toward Sen. McCain in the appearance, both Pullen and the Paul campaign say it was simply a show of Republican solidarity, rather than a sly rebuke to the presumptive nominee.

Given the checkered history between Pullen and Sen. McCain, some Republicans questioned the wisdom of the chairman appearing with Paul, whose supporters have often been vocal in their opposition to McCain. However, Andre Campos, Paul's Arizona director, took pains to alleviate fears that Paul supporters will do anything to embarrass McCain or the Republican Party.

Arizona only rates a few mentions in the long analysis U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) penned regarding the Republican Party's current woes, a memo designed to address the rampant anxiety prevailing among GOP incumbents and candidates this cycle. Yet both of Arizona's political parties see a direct correlation between what Davis addressed on the national level and what is happening on the ground in Arizona's congressional races.

For Emily Bittner, Communications Director for the Arizona Democratic Party, the memo contains an affirmation that the 2008 Democratic outlook in Arizona is good.