Maybe I’m a little naive about politics. I’m an optimist. Genius political statistician Nate Silver calls Arizona for Romney by a whopping 89 percent; at the same time Arizona keeps getting less red on his state-by-state map.
Then there’s Democrat Richard Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general running for Kyl’s Senate seat. Carmona’s Puerto Rican background may bring out Hispanic voters, who have been battered by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and the discriminatory prospects of SB 1070.
If that happens, I believe that Obama will pick up votes on Carmona’s coattails. Not that Arizona will go blue, but I’d like to see dark blue designating Democratic strongholds when the New York Times posts its U.S. voting map by county after the election, making us Arizona Democrats feel like our votes count.
In 2000, two years before I moved to Tucson, I pinned that presidential election map on my classroom billboard at Mt. Desert Island High School. Pima County was dark blue, having gone for Gore by a decent margin. I could live there, I remember thinking.
I also recall pre-president, pre senator Barack Obama’s electrifying keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. “We’re not a liberal America and a conservative America; we’re the United States of America,” he said.
I’m all for a purple America.
Tucson Writer Editor 
Me too, Sheila. I like purple. I’ve always wondered what it feels like to be a left-leaning person living in a right-leaning state. Having lived now in California, Iowa and Ohio, I have a bit of perspective on swing states and left-leaning states. But do you feel overwhelmed at times? Does it really matter?
My friends from Maine, where I lived most of my life, always ask how I can live in loony Arizona. Sometimes it’s tough.
Couldn’t agree more, Sheila, being Ohio-born myself. Our next-door neighbor is running against my favorite candidate for a seat in the AZ Senate. Oh, what a fix I’m in!
As We’ve said before, why would you vote for a Republican? Your neighbor isn’t going to the voting booth with you.
Let me explain: Nate Silver says that Romney has an 89 percent chance of winning in Arizona. That 89 percent isn’t about a poll.