From TPM Reader JM …
I’m not wired into the Arizona political establishment; I’m just an AZ resident and very interested observer, or slightly more than–in 2008 I wrote Barack Obama: The Comic Book Biography, which was featured on CNN and Fox News and just about every major newspaper in the country, and spawned legions of imitators. I’m a novelist and comic book/graphic novel author, and my blog is about half-and-half writing and politics. I live in Gabby Giffords’s district, know Gabby a little, and miss her like crazy,
In answer to your question, I have to say yes, there’s a chance that AZ goes for Obama this year. It’s still a long shot, but it’s not impossible, I think we’ll know more after June, when the special election for Gabby’s seat is held. If Ron Barber wins going away that’s a good sign for the president. If he wins really close one, then it’s probably residual sympathy for Gabby putting him over the top.
Anecdotally, though, people here are sick of the extremists running the state. It’s not just SB1070, it’s absurdities like declaring that a woman can be pregnant weeks before she’s had sex, allowing guns in libraries, and on and on. It’s idiots like Joe Arpaio and Jan Brewer making national spectacles of themselves. I know die-hard Republicans who cringe when they hear those names or discuss their antics.
There are, to be sure, still supporters of even the most lunatic. But they’re getting harder to find and they’re somewhat embarrassed by their support. Arizona’s Mormon population will help Romney, but a motivated Latino population will more than balance that out. The Obama campaign needs to work the Latino angle, the woman angle, and not ignore the fact that there are many, many independents here who think the Republican Party has gone flat crazy, and who are reminded of that with every day’s news out of Phoenix.
