Strong races await in fall

(PNI) This week's primary election set up intriguing matchups and themes for November's general election.

The 9th Congressional District. Black Republican Vernon Parker and bisexual Democrat Kyrsten Sinema will face off. These two likely would not have been their parties' nominees a decade or two ago.

Both have compelling personal stories. Both grew up in humble circumstances that influenced, in diametrically different ways, their politics today. Both earned law degrees and a level of personal success.

Parker found his answers in the Republican Party, which led him to high positions in both Bush administrations. He returned to Arizona and won election as mayor of upscale, nearly all-White Paradise Valley.

Sinema entered politics through the fringes of the Green Party. She was elected as a Democrat to the Legislature, where she was a liberal bomb thrower early in her early career. But she matured, moderated some positions, learned to work across the aisle and moved into legislative leadership.

In both candidates' pasts is material for negative ads, but voters will be better served if the campaigns let it be.

These two candidates disagree on every significant issue facing America. They are articulate, forceful advocates for their views. This should be a debate about ideas, philosophy and the future of the country. Differences will be obvious without needing to twist the truth or engage in character assassination.

The U.S. Senate race between Rep. Jeff Flake and former Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

Flake, on the strength of his overwhelming victory in the Republican primary, begins the race as the front-runner. His record as a budget hawk puts him in a good position in a year when Rep. Paul Ryan is his party's vice-presidential nominee.

But he has a weakness: The state's business community has seen Flake do virtually nothing to support economic-development efforts and the creation of good Arizona jobs. Supporting business is not the same thing as dispensing pork. If Carmona can make the case that he would be better for job creation, this could be a closer race than pundits predict.

Arizona Senate races.

Primary results have nudged the legislative body in a more moderate direction, where debate can focus on issues that matter instead of unproductive saber rattling.

Bob Worsley's defeat of former Senate President Russell Pearce and Rich Crandall's victory over John Fillmore were wins for pragmatism. And, as a bonus, gun-packing, rumor-spreading Sen. Lori Klein is gone after a single term.

If several races around the state go the right way, the Senate will become the place where silly ideas go to die. It would be a welcome development.

Immigration. It's no longer a winning issue.

The appetite for anti-illegal-immigration legislation had already faded after the bad publicity and high legal bills from Senate Bill 1070. The defeat of five bills during Pearce's final year as Senate president was the first sign of immigration weariness.

Pearce's drubbing in his attempt to return to the Senate should be a warning to any legislator contemplating picking up his baton.

Arizonans are tired of this fight. They want a Legislature focused on the economy and basic state services. Those who won Tuesday and will win in November should give voters what they want.

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