See also: Russell Pearce Skunked by Bob Worsley in LD 25 Republican Primary See also: Russell Pearce's Ruin Caused in Part by Citizens for a Better Arizona See also: Russell Pearce Nabs First Vice Chair, Ron Paul Dominates Straw Poll at State GOP Meeting
If you want to get a snapshot of how devastating recalled, ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce's loss was in his comeback state Senate bid for Legislative District 25, take a look at the precinct-by-precinct vote counts from Tuesday, available on the Maricopa County Recorder's website.
As has been noted already by some supporters of state Senator-elect Bob Worsley, Tuesday's victor in the LD 25 GOP primary, Pearce lost his own precinct, the Candlelight precinct, to Worsley, who scored 663 votes to Pearce's 582.
The same was true for all of the precincts surrounding Pearce's, save for the Lehi precinct, where Pearce eked out a 227 to 218 win.
Further afield, in the Leisure World precinct, Mesa's version of Jurassic Park, Worsley bested Pearce 310 to 305.
Even the fossils said no to the dinosaur.
Worsley talks DREAMers, Stan Turley, and his goals for the LegislatureIf you're wondering, Worsley handily took his own Groves precinct, 390 to 172.
Despite the kvetching of right-wing hack Constantin Querard and others associated with the Pearce team that it was all the media's fault for the ton of negative coverage Pearce garnered (most of it due to cretinous moves pulled by Querard and Pearce), these precinct results indicate that the people who know Pearce best, his own neighbors, soundly rejected him.
The totals for LD 25 so far are Worsley, 12,789 votes; Pearce, 10,087, according to the Maricopa County Elections site.
Elections workers still have 106,000 early and provisional ballots to process, according to Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne. She said the county will do its first update of the numbers late this afternoon, around 5 p.m.
"It won't be all but will be a substantial chunk of what is left," she told me.
So Worsley could end up expanding his 12-point lead. I'll update this blog post with the latest numbers after those totals are up.
As you can see if you've read this far, videographer Dennis Gilman recently posted two videos of soon-to-be state Senator-elect Bob Worsley from primary night. (Note: In this heavily GOP district, the general is pretty much a formality.)
The first is of Worsley addressing supporters at his home, with his wife Christi by his side. As I mentioned in my election night piece, Worsley actually thanked Pearce for his service.
Though Pearce never called state Senator Jerry Lewis, who bested him in last year's recall election, Worsley reports on his Facebook page that Pearce texted him Wednesday with the following message:
"...Congratulations to you. May God bless you in this effort."
Hey, better late than never.
The second video is of a little interview I did with Worsley after his speech. I asked him about Governor Jan Brewer's recent edict on the DREAM Act students, and the DREAM Act itself. He doesn't come right out and criticize Brewer, and is careful in the words he chooses. But you can see where his sympathies lie.
Last thing, check out this photo of Pearce in sunglasses and a hat talking to a voter on election day. The pic accompanies Arizona Republic reporter Gary Nelson's piece on the Worsley-Pearce race.
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According to my sources, Pearce was campaigning for a slate of precinct committeemen. Perhaps, in a bid to take over the Arizona Republican Party and become its chairman. Currently, Pearce is the party's first vice chair.
Or as the bard might say...
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.
UPDATE 7:11 PM: County elections just updated the numbers. Pearce has 12,451 votes to Worsley's 15,745, which means Worsley's at a little under 12 percent and holding. About 24,000 ballots remain to be counted in the county, according to officials.
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