GOP's Pullen running for treasurer

Randy Pullen, former head of the state Republican Party, announced his candidacy Thursday for the GOP nomination for state treasurer.

Pullen is touting his financial credentials, in both private and political circles, as he wades into what is now a four-candidate field for the August 2014 Republican primary.

He is a certified public accountant and served as treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 2009-11.

Pullen also has a background in data systems for financial institutions. He oversaw the installation of the state's financial-information system three decades ago when he worked for Deloitte Touche. With that ailing system slated for replacement in 2015, he said, he's well-positioned to reprise that oversight role. "If they're going to change out the accounting system in 2015, who better to oversee it?" he asked.

Pullen said he has spent months building a statewide team, talking up his trio of campaign chairmen: former Gov. Fife Symington, Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson and Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll.

Also running in the Republican primary for the treasurer's seat are Jeff DeWit, president and CEO of echotrade, a day-trading investment company; former Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman; and former Chandler City Councilman Martin Sepulveda.

Current Treasurer Doug Ducey is seeking the GOP nomination for governor in 2014.

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Running for Ron Paul’s House Seat, but Not in His Image

It is hard enough to get voters to remember their names — there are nine Republicans running — in an election that is rife with confusion because of a delayed primary date and redrawn boundaries. And for all the hero worship Mr. Paul has cultivated among a small but vocal subset of the electorate, nobody is rushing to imitate “Dr. No.”

“I don’t get a sense that people are looking for the next Ron Paul,” said Jay Old, a Beaumont lawyer and the top fund-raiser in the crowded field. “I think they are looking for people who want the very best for the district.”

Partisan gerrymandering often turns political jurisdictions into zigzagging monstrosities, but the redrawn Congressional District 14 is straightforward and compact. It starts at the southeast corner of Texas, along the Louisiana border, and going west picks up two whole coastal counties, Jefferson and Galveston, and about half of another, Brazoria.

It was not what Mr. Paul, the 76-year-old physician, had in mind. The district lost much of its rural character, and he faced the daunting prospect of introducing himself to about 300,000 people who were not in the old version of the district.

Though he is running for president, Mr. Paul could have also legally sought re-election, as he did in 2008. Mr. Paul is now in his 12th term.

He quit instead, and the race to fill his Republican-leaning seat has become a free-for-all among Republicans.

If none of the nine candidates wins half of the vote outright on May 29, the top two will face off in a July 31 runoff. That appears to be the most likely scenario.

Whoever emerges will probably face former United States Representative Nick Lampson, Democrat of Beaumont, who has strong ties to the area and an even stronger conviction that the seat will be competitive in the fall. There are 11 major party candidates altogether, plus Zach Grady, a Libertarian, running for the seat.

There are four Republican candidates whose money and political connections give them the best shot at making a runoff. Mr. Old has raised the most money and had $308,000 on hand as of the last reporting period, which ended in April. He is already running TV ads, but his history of voting in past Democratic primaries and his donations to Democratic candidates have prompted criticism from his Republican opponents.

Mr. Old, 48, said that Democrats traditionally dominated elections in his native Jefferson County, and that when there were no options in the Republican primary, “that means you pick the most qualified, most conservative candidate the other side offers.”

Michael Truncale, another well-financed Republican from Beaumont, is stressing his grass-roots appeal and political reach as a State Republican Executive Committee member. At last count, Mr. Truncale, 54, a lawyer and former Texas State University System regent, had $149,000 in the bank.

One possible factor working against both men is their home county: its tradition of voting for Democrats means Republican turnout could be much lower there than in the western part of the district.

That is one reason State Representative Randy Weber of Pearland is expected to make the runoff. The owner of an air-conditioning company he started in 1981, Mr. Weber takes pride in his 2009 designation as the most conservative member of the Texas House, as scored by the Texas Conservative Coalition. He also picked up Gov. Rick Perry’s endorsement.

“I have a track record of conservative action,” said Mr. Weber, who traces his political activism to former President Ronald Reagan’s re-election bid. “I don’t just know all the talking points. I’ve lived them for 29 years.” Mr. Weber had raised $282,000 for the race and had the second-highest cash-on-hand figure in the Republican field — $227,000, as of the last reporting period.

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GOP Mich. US Rep. McCotter running for president (AP)

DETROIT – U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a guitar-playing five-term congressman from Detroit's suburbs known for his eccentric sense of humor and independent streak, said Friday that he plans to seek the Republican nomination for president.

The 45-year-old attorney said he will officially announce his candidacy — and join a crowded early field of GOP candidates — on Saturday at an Independence Day festival at Whitmore Lake, about 30 miles outside Detroit. He is expected to play guitar with his band at the event.

McCotter said he would push for a fundamental restructuring of government and for Wall Street banks that received federal bailout money to free up credit.

"We're not seeing credit flow down to entrepreneurs, innovators and workers that will grow the economy and shape it for the 21st century," he said. "To me that has to be a linchpin of any economic policy that goes forward."

He'll join a Republican race that already includes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, pizza magnate Herman Cain, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

McCotter said there's "room for another message or another candidate ... Now whether or not it's me, that remains to be seen, but that's why we have campaigns."

His biggest battle may be getting his name out.

"The first time I heard about him was today when I received a news alert," Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie said Friday. "My general reaction to this is this is a long-shot candidacy."

McCotter, of Livonia, was elected to his fifth consecutive term in Congress in November. Before running for Congress, he was a lawyer, a state senator, a Wayne County commissioner and a community college trustee.

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