Edwin Jackson's No-Hitter

Last night, I got to witness baseball history, and check another milestone off of my scorecard list (see this post about my Scorecard Bucket List). Edwin Jackson pitched only the second no-hitter in Arizona Diamondbacks franchise history against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg Florida at Tropicana Field. The first Arizona no-hitter was Randy Johnson's perfect game in 2004. And what a no-hitter E. Jackson's was, too! Let me throw some random statistics out there:

TARS Candidate Forum

Two nights ago, the East Valley Homeschooled Teenage Republicans (TARS) hosted a meet-the-candidates forum at the home of former Arizona House of Representatives member and 2008 Arizona CD-5 candidate Laura Knaperek. I went in order to volunteer to help Bill Montgomery, candidate for Maricopa County Attorney, but when I arrived, he already had several other people helping, so I mostly listened to the other candidates.
The forum was held in the backyard and home of Mrs. Knaperek, and upon my arrival there at 6:30pm, I was greeted by the Chairman of the state's TARS organization and some of his members in the East Valley group. Since I was a tad early, we chatted for a while, and I enjoyed hearing his perspective on some of Arizona's politics. The TARS were collecting donations for their trip to Washington, DC for the TARS national convention, and I was happy to donate $10 to help. If those kids are the future of the College Republicans in a year or two, and future leaders of the country, I think we'll be in good hands.

After a while, the party picked up steam, and I was able to talk with a few of the candidates. Those in attendance included: CD-5 candidates David Schweikert, Susan Bitter-Smith, Jim Ward, and Chris Salvino; current Secretary of State Ken Bennett seeking re-election; Attorney General candidate Tom Horne; State Treasurer candidates Barbara Leff, Thayer Verschoor, and a representative for Doug Ducey; Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate John Huppenthal; Corporation Commissioner candidates Barry Wong, Gary Pierce, and Brenda Burns; LD-20 House candidates Jeff Dial and Christopher Tolino; and Maricopa County Attorney candidates Bill Montgomery and Rick Romley. (If I missed anyone, campaigns should feel free to correct me by leaving a comment below or emailing me so I can fix my oversight!)

2010 Primary Countdown

This year on August 24th (sooner if you request and return a mail-in ballot) Arizonans will have the chance to choose who will represent them for the next two to four years (depending on the race). To that end, I'm working on breaking down each race and providing information on the candidates from now until primary election day. There are 11 races that everyone will be voting on, plus some that will be exclusive to each local jurisdiction. They are:

1. Governor (10 candidates)
2. Secretary of State (3 candidates)
3. Attorney General (5 candidates)
4. Treasurer (5 candidates)
5. Superintendent of Public Instruction (5 candidates)
6. State Mine Inspector (2 candidates)
7. Corporation Commissioners (6 candidates)
8. State Senator (various candidates depending on district)
9. State Representatives (various candidates depending on district)
10. United States Senator (10 candidates)
11. United States Representative (various candidates depending on district)

We'll whittle down this number of candidates for each race to two or three apiece through the primary process. Then we re-vote for the general election, where 10 ballot propositions are proposed (as of this writing). After examining the elected officers' races, I'll also be taking a look at the ballot propositions, which include real estate measures and legalization of marijuana, among other things.

Look for this "series" of blog posts in the near future.

Jeff Smith - CD-6's Next Congressman?

Wow, it's been a while since I last put up a post - nearly an entire month. Granted, I have been pretty busy the last three weeks helping to clean and organize my mom's classroom and move her library of books back home for the summer. I've also been doing the job search thing and the baseball thing. In a nutshell there, I'm still jobless and my Diamondbacks have the third worst record in all of baseball, so.... At least Mom's books are back home and reorganized.

Anyway, for the past few weeks I've also been in touch with a select number of campaigns here in the east valley working on a project to keep me busy and "network" with some of the campaign staffs. It started out as me thinking about how I could help out even though I can't do a lot of events (no car, no dinero).