Tucson's elections...

True Arizona is a red state, but Pima County is one of the largest blue counties in the country. I am talking sheer acreage here. Take a look at the red-blue map from the 2004 Presidential election:



So yeah we've got a lot of blue acres down here.

In fact, Pima County helped send Raul M. Grijalva -- as ardent a progressive as there is -- to the House of Representatives. Pima County is also why Arizona has a blue governor. Janet Napolitano owes her 2002 election to the high voter turnout of Pima County Democrats.

And yet consider this:
Despite our royal blueness, Tucson has a City Council dominated by Republicans.

Up until last night that is...



What glorious news.
And what a thumping:

Dem-Trasoff 65%
Rep-Ronstadt 35%

Dem-Uhlich 62%
Rep-Dunbar 38%

You can read about the smack down here.
(Note: The Arizona Daily Star pulls down their stuff after several days.)

Side note:

The victory of Karen Uhlich over Kathleen Dunbar was especially tasty.
That's because the Republican Dunbar went on a suing spree five days before the election. Here is a quote from a recent Daily Star Article:

Republican Councilwoman Kathleen Dunbar made good on her threat to sue her Democratic opponent and three retired teachers over a campaign mailer.
In a complaint filed Thursday in Pima County Superior Court, Dunbar claims the mailer contains defamatory statements that have caused her "severe mental and physical anguish." The suit comes just five days before Tucson voters decide whether Dunbar deserves a second term representing Ward 3 on the City Council.
In addition to council candidate Karin Uhlich and the teachers, the suit also names the Pima County Democratic Party, the teachers' husbands, and a lawyer for the Amphitheater Public Schools district and his wife as defendants.

Typical ugly Republican dirty tricks.
Anything to win.
But yesterday we weren't having any of it.
We went hard to the polls and we slapped them viciously.

And yeah-- it sure feels good.

Flipping the urchin

Fact: Cheney appointed David S. Addington to be his chief of staff.
Fact: Cheney appointed John P. Hannah to be the Assistant to the Vice President.
Fact: Their fingerprints are all over the botched-up burglary of Plame's name.

Conclusion: Josh Marshall called Cheney's move: "circling the wagons."

A better conclusion: They're circling the wagons and poking rifles out of every crack.

This administration now has the look and feel of a sea urchin.
To get at the guts of an urchin, you have to flip it over.

So that is what is now wanting:

A Deep Throat.
A Daniel Ellsberg.
A John Dean.

Someone to flip this cancerous administration on its back.

Because let's face it:

Addington is to Hannah
As Libby is to Rove,
As Cheney is to Libby,
As Bush is to Cheney.

Pervasive cancer requires invasive surgery.
And in the case at hand: Lots and lots of bloodletting.

Will it happen?
Or will we wait in vain for Godot to flip onto the scene?

My hunch is that someone important is going to flip.
The temperature of our country has clearly changed.
Beneath the surface a deep shift is remaking the American psyche.

Put mystically:
The Body Politic has had it with these scoundrels.
She is going to crack this administration open.
She will anoint someone to flip.

Out of the death of this administration will come a new birth.
That's inevitable.

But first-- right now,
It's killing time.
Time for Shiva to dance,
And time for us,
To beat time to the waltz.