10 Worst Moments on the 2014 Campaign Trail in Arizona (Already) | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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10 Worst Moments on the 2014 Campaign Trail in Arizona (Already)

We're still a month away from the primary election, but Arizona's politicians already have managed to turn campaign season into a full-blown circus.Here are the worst missteps, mistakes, and bone-headed moves from candidates already this year:...
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We're still a month away from the primary election, but Arizona's politicians already have managed to turn campaign season into a full-blown circus.

Here are the worst missteps, mistakes, and bone-headed moves from candidates already this year:

10.) Jan Brewer Has to Announce She's Not Running for a Third Term

According to the Arizona Constitution, you're only allowed to be governor for two terms. However, Governor Jan Brewer consistently threatened to run for a third term, but ended up holding a press conference to declare that she's not going to. Yeah, we knew.


9.) Christine Jones' DUI Surfaces

Don't we already have a governor who got popped for DUI? Jones earned a high-score of .103 on her breathalyzer test in 2004.


8.) Good News on Medicaid Expansion Is Bad News for Andy Tobin

As House Speaker, Andy Tobin fought hard against Medicaid expansion, and is actually one of the Republican lawmakers who sued over the expansion plan championed by Governor Brewer. Problem is, reports say Medicaid expansion is working.


7.) Wendy Rogers on John McCain's End

Awkward joke alert: Rogers said Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema is just waiting for Senator John McCain to be "carried out on a stretcher" so she can run for his Senate seat.


6.) Andrew Thomas Running for Governor in General

It's embarrassing enough that a disbarred, disgraced former county attorney is running for governor at all. The fact that he gets to use public money to fund his campaign is even worse.


5.) Wilcox Hits Gallego on His Name-Change

In the CD-7 primary race, Democrat Mary Rose Wilcox accused opponent Ruben Gallego of not being "open and honest" by legally changing his name. We cringed at Wilcox's comments as Gallego explained that his father abandoned his family when he was young, so he changed his last name to his mother's.


4.) Frank Riggs Not Wearing a Shirt

Frank Riggs went shirtless in a campaign ad, and he's not exactly a candidate for the sexiest man alive contest. We are, however, thankful that we didn't get a full frontal of the candidate.


3.) "Cesar Chavez"

The candidacy of a Republican named Scott Fistler -- who changed his party to Democrat and changed his name to Cesar Chavez -- was the first moment of the election cycle to be featured on the Colbert Report.


2.) Adam Kwasman on Scared Kids



Jumping on the anti-immigrant train and joining protesters in shouting about a bus full of migrant children being transported, Republican Congressional Candidate Adam Kwasman said that he could see the "fear on [the children's] faces" as they rolled by. They were probably full of fear because they were American kids from a local YMCA being screamed at by angry anti-immigrant protesters. D'oh!


1.) Everything Related to Tom Horne

As if Republican Attorney General didn't have enough scandals in his time as attorney general so far, even more scandals have spilled over onto the campaign trail. Most notably, one of the AG's former staffers alleges that Horne instructed employees to do campaign work on state time, which is resulting in even more investigations of Horne.

We can't wait to see what Arizona politicos come up with in time for the general election.

Got a tip? Send it to: Matthew Hendley.

Follow Valley Fever on Twitter at @ValleyFeverPHX.
Follow Matthew Hendley at @MatthewHendley.


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