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by Bob Christie/Associated Press

azfamily.com

Posted on May 19, 2014 at 1:05 PM

Updated yesterday at 2:43 PM

PHOENIX (AP) -- Democrat Felecia Rotellini said Monday she's ready to take on either Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne or his Republican primary opponent in the November general election with a full war chest.

Rotellini's comments came after she filed nominating petitions to officially qualify for the ballot. She said she expects to have more than $1 million in the bank by June to take on either Horne or his Republican challenger, Mark Brnovich.

She will need the money to fend off efforts by the candidates and independent groups seeking to keep a Democrat from gaining a major statewide seat for the first time in four years. She ran against Horne in 2010 and narrowly lost an election that led to a now-renewed campaign finance complaint against the attorney general.

"I intend to have a war chest of over a million dollars to make sure I can do the commercials and be ready for the attack ads I know will come towards me," Rotellini said. "And this time around, we'll be ready."

Rotellini, 56, faces no opposition in August's Democratic primary, so her money will be on hand for the general election battle.

Rotellini said whichever challenger emerges will be "broke and bruised" from a GOP primary that is shaping up as a contest focused on controversies surrounding Horne over the past two years.

Go here to see the original:
Democrat Rotellini files for attorney general race

Colleen Garry is still a Democrat.

She swears she is.

It's just that her fellow Democrats don't always vote the way she wants, and so she votes her conscience or the way she feels her constituents would want her to vote.

Revolutionary thinking, right? Especially for a longtime politician who knows how to play the go-along-to-get-along game.

"I'm still a Democrat," Garry, the state representative for Dracut and Tyngsboro, said recently, not long after voting against the Democratic leadership -- and just about every other Democrat -- on several bills before the House.

According to Beacon Hill Roll Call, all of the bills had to do with taxes or controversial monetary issues. The Democratic Party does not like voting on tax issues because, this being Massachusetts, the party is always partial to raising taxes rather than lowering them. So when bills arise that would, for example, lower the sales tax or the income tax, or exempt cities and towns from paying the 24-cents-per-gallon gas tax for municipal vehicles, the Democrats instead vote to conduct a "study" of the issue.

Would it surprise you to find out that these "studies" are never actually done, that it's just a way for the Democrats to get around voting against lowering taxes so they don't have to hear about it from their constituents in an election year?

Of course, it wouldn't. It's Massachusetts.

And so, the votes to perform these studies break down along party lines, and the Democrats never lose.

But among local lawmakers, you can rely on Garry to buck that trend. After all, she has been named by nonpartisan groups as the most conservative Democrat in the House.

See the original post:
Dan Phelps: Rep. Garry refuses to toe her party's line

Democrat John Bauer kicked off a run for lieutenant governor Monday that he said will focus on economic equality, more investment in Vermont businesses and campaign finance reform.

Bauer, who was endorsed by the state Democratic Party over the weekend, told reporters at the Statehouse that he would not accept corporate donations and intends to qualify for public campaign funding.

To do that, Bauer would need to raise at least $17,500 from 750 Vermonters in amounts of $50 or less by mid-June. That would entitle him to receive $50,000 for the primary election period and $150,000 for the general election, according to the Secretary of State's 2014 election guide.

"Money in politics is a like a snake wrapped around our democracy," Bauer said. "It's growing and it's squeezing ever tighter. Public financing is a way for us to loosen that grip to make a change to make publicly elected officials elected using public money. Because of what's happened in two (U.S. Supreme Court cases) we now have corporate financing of candidates."

Bauer joins former Progressive lawmaker Dean Corren of Burlington as announced candidates for the state's No. 2 job. Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott is expected to seek re-election.

Bauer, 57, of Jeffersonville said he believes the state should create ways for Vermonters to invest within its borders.

He proposed the creation of a state-run retirement fund similar to an IRA or the popular college savings plan in which non-union, hourly workers could contribute money that would be invested in local communities. He suggested the funds could be managed by Vermont banks and credit unions and could offer various risk levels for investors. He said Vermonters should benefit from the same strategies that are enriching Wall Street investors.

Bauer also said he agrees with fellow Democrat Gov. Peter Shumlin's push toward a single-payer health care system and other policy issues, but has not yet reached out to the governor for an endorsement.

Go here to see the original:
Democrat John Bauer launches campaign for lieutenant governor

WASHINGTON Former Senator James Webb, a Virginia Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 2006 on the strength of his record as a combat veteran who opposed the Iraq war, said Monday in an interview on a Washington, D.C., radio station that he is thinking about running for president.

Appearing on WAMU's "Diane Rehm Show" to discuss his new memoir, Webb, a prolific author, Vietnam veteran and former secretary of the Navy, said he is concerned about the direction of U.S. foreign policy and is looking for a way to reengage in the national debate.

"My wife and I are just thinking about what to do next. I care a lot about where the country is, and we'll be sorting that out," he told host Susan Page when asked if he was considering a 2016 run.

Noting that he did not decide to challenge then-incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen, Va., in 2006 until nine months before the November election, he added: "It takes me a while to decide things. I'm not going to say one way or the other."

He said he was concerned that on foreign policy, the nation is now "bouncing from issue to issue without a clear articulation of what the national security interest of the United States actually is." At the same time, he said, he is worried by the growing gap between the rich and poor, which he said could be addressed through better leadership in Washington.

Webb's comments took the political establishment in Virginia and beyond by surprise.

Since declining to run for reelection to the Senate in 2012 after serving only a single term in office, Webb has largely disappeared from the political scene.

He spent little time in office or since leaving it nurturing the kind of political connections that would be needed to run for president, particularly to challenge the kind of fundraising and organizing juggernaut that would be available to former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And Webb never relished the superficiality of the campaign trail, which he might find even more pronounced at the presidential level than in the Senate.

Still, Webb, 68, is considered a maverick.

Read the rest here:
Former Va. senator, Vietnam vet considering presidential bid

May 13 Senate Democrat Leadership Press Conference
Majority Leader Harry Reid discussed the middle class, federal judicial nominations and the Senate tax extenders bill at the weekly Democratic news conferenc...

By: Roll Call

Read more here:
May 13 Senate Democrat Leadership Press Conference - Video