District 18 Senate Blogger Roundtable - Part 2 UPDATED

With so much happening in the heated District 18 Senate Race, I thought it would be good to put together a round table discussion about the race and get some people who cover Mesa’s opinion on the issues. East Valley Immigration, Adams and Jefferson, Thoughts on Mesa, and the Sonoran Alliancce have agreed to participate. So, here is the second installment of the District 18 Roundtable Discussion.

2. What do you think is the greatest handicap for each candidate?

Sonoran Alliance: Russell Pearce's greatest handicap is not having access to large donors. Russell has relied on grassroots support in every bid while shying away from big business. Because money is the mother's milk of much larger campaigns and Russell has not had to rely on big money in the past, this will not work against him. Kevin Gibbons greatest handicap is the fact that he comes from business and specifically, the legal arena. His association with the anti-employer sanctions groups and immigration attorneys is an even bigger handicap than Russell's lack of access to big money. Gibbons is also perceived as an outsider and coming from upper class interests which does not bode well with a community of long-established families..

Mesa Issues: Its going to be hard for people to get past the fact that Gibbons and his donors are double dipping in donating to his campaign and for the independent expenditures. If he has changes to the employer sanctions laws, he better speak up now, instead of letting others speak for him. For Pearce, he has to not follow each one of these allegations down the rabbit hole. That is part of the reason that they are doing this is to keep him off his game and prevent him from matching up directly with Gibbons.

Thoughts on Mesa: Gibbons – his ties to those fighting the employer sanctions laws and his own attempts at personally attacking Pearce.
Pearce – He talks too much and gets off subject.

East Valley Immigration: Pearce- people think he only is about immigration. He's actually a big player in the no-tax crowd. Gibbons- He's all for open borders and has aligned himself with by taking money from big time Democrats.

Adams and Jefferson: I see three main challenges for each candidate:

Russell Pearce
His strong position on illegal immigration has allowed his opponents to accuse him of being a racist.

He has angered a lot of powerful people across the state who have organized a concerted effort to remove him from office.

He is a Clean Elections candidate which limits his financial resources and also gives the Gibbons camp an opportunity to challenge his conservative credentials.

Kevin Gibbons
His list of campaign contributors include Democrat party activists and othergroups who directly oppose key principles/platforms of the Republican Party. This has angered the Party and led to the MCRC endorsement of Russell Pearce in this primary - a very uncommon thing for them to do.

His supporters are more "anti-Pearce" than "pro-Gibbons" which isn't the best motivation for voters

He has snubbed the LD18 Precinct Committeemen who are now mad as hornets at him and will be working with their friends and neighbors to make sure the Rep. Pearce is sent to the Senate.