Drive around Mesa and you'll find that Pearce's signs are few and far between, whereas Sherwood's signs are ubiquitous. Also, Pearce doesn't campaign, whereas the youthful, articulate Sherwood is walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors.
Wishful thinking on my part that Sherwood has a chance? Perhaps. But you have to venture into the enemy's territory to defeat him. And even if you don't defeat him, fielding a strident opponent keeps the monster looking over his shoulder.
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Sherwood talks up what he calls Pearce's "record of failure," noting that the senator has done nothing to alleviate the economic downturn's effect on Mesa — that, indeed, Pearce has made it worse by casting votes to increase property taxes and make higher education more expensive.
As for immigration, Sherwood has attacked 1070 head-on, pointing out that it has done nothing to stop the flow of people and drugs into the state. He backs an Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform plan that would create Ellis Island-like centers at the border, have immigrants pay the government what they would pay coyotes, run background and health checks on them, and pair them with employers who need workers.
"Russell Pearce is a bully, and all bullies are cowards," Sherwood told me recently. "And I don't think highly of bullies."
Nor should any Democrat. Arizona Dems have been running, cowering, and dodging ogres like Pearce for too long. Get up on your hind legs and fight the bastard, as Sherwood's doing now. Because Pearce and his ilk are not going away without a battle to the death.
