Arizona souring on Bush

Atrios makes a funny with this poll, but I'm too dry and analytical for that. So here are the facts:

Barely one-third of Arizona voters say they would give President Bush a second term, a statewide poll revealed Thursday.

The 34 percent support for his re-election, with 44 percent preferring someone else and 22 percent undecided, reflects a dramatic plunge in popularity for Bush. In 2000, he beat Al Gore in Arizona by a margin of 6 percentage points, or nearly 100,000 votes of 1.5 million cast.

Arizona will be part of the Dems winning coalition in 2004, and should be great hunting ground for a pro-gun Dem like Dean or Clark and well within reach for the rest of the top Democrats.

While we must compete (and will) in the South for the benefit of down-ballot races, our best shot at regional electoral gains will be in the Mountain West. We should solidify our gains in New Mexico, take Arizona and Nevada, and compete in Colorado. That's 20 electoral votes, 29 if we take CO. And a pro-gun Dem should be able to chip away at GOoPer dominance in NE, SD, ND, and MT for future gains.

We also need to pry Ohio away from the Republicans, though the Dem party in that state is in shambles.

Good case scenario, we take the Gore states and snag NV, CO, AZ, OH, WV and NH. That's 313 EVs and a comfortable victory. Best case scenario, we add FL, VA, LA, AR and MO and get a 379/159 blowout -- the landslide victory I demand from our nominee next year.

Throw in a crazy no-chance state like OK or KS or SD, and it would add the metaphorical cherry on top.

We need to crush Bush. They can't steal the election again. They can't claim moral victory. And their agenda is repudiated to its core.

Posted September 26, 2003 01:05 AM | Comments (183)