Kerry rises as top pick for US secretary of state post <nbsp/><nbsp/>

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON With U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice suddenly withdrawing from consideration for U.S. secretary of state to avoid a contentious confirmation fight with emboldened Republicans, Democratic Sen. John Kerry has vaulted to the head of President Barack Obama's short list of candidates.

The exit of Rice on Thursday and possible elevation of Kerry -- who unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 2004 and has longed for the job of top diplomat -- has shaken up Washington.

It was coupled with the potential for even bolder second-term changes in Obama's national security team next month. Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator, emerged as the front-runner to serve as defense secretary.

Official word on replacements for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is expected to step down soon, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in an Obama Cabinet remake could come as early as next week.

Obama was scheduled to meet with Rice privately on Friday. The White House said Rice would remain U.N. ambassador.

She could become national security adviser should Tom Donilon move on to another position. The security adviser position would not require Senate confirmation.

Democrats blamed politics for Rice's withdrawal. They insinuated that Republicans who failed to get any traction in using the deadly September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, to derail Obama's re-election bid instead took her down.

"Their behavior was a disgrace to the Senate's tradition of bipartisan cooperation on national security issues and beneath the stature of senators with otherwise distinguished records on national security," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.

Rice had been widely attacked for a series of interviews five days after the Libya attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Relying on intelligence community talking points, she attributed the cause to widespread protests throughout the Middle East over an anti-Muslim video rather than a terrorist attack by al-Qaida affiliates.

Obama had been defiant in defending Rice. House Democratic women cast the attacks as sexist and racist -- Rice is African-American.

In a letter to Obama, Rice said that "if nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly -- to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country."

Obama bemoaned the relentless Republican criticism in accepting Rice's decision to step aside.

"While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character," the president said.

Kerry, a senator for nearly three decades and the current Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, has won praise from his Senate colleagues and should be confirmed easily, if nominated.

He has been Obama's envoy to hot spots such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, the administration's point man in 2010 on a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia and a stand-in for Republican Mitt Romney during Obama's debate preparation this year.

Kerry's move to secretary of state would create a potential problem for Democrats by opening a Senate seat -- one that recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown is eyeing.

Hagel was a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee during his years in the Senate. He and Obama became close while they served in the Senate and traveled overseas together.

Hagel has irked some in the Republican Party with his complaints that the party has moved too far to the right and for his endorsements of Democrats.

"He's a combat vet who was wounded twice and understands that the decisions we make here are carried out by our young men and women" in the military, said Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Henderson County GOP cheers state victories - BlueRidgeNow.com

Lois Stodghill talks with N.C. House District 113 candidate Chris Whitmire at the Henderson County Republican Party office Tuesday evening.

Patrick Sullivan/Times-News

Jennifer Lunsford left Henderson County Republican Party headquarters Tuesday evening and stepped out into the crisp, cold air. The emotional toll was apparent in every word she spoke.

The night wasn't over, but she left headquarters, where volunteers had gathered to watch the results, at 10 p.m. discouraged with the presidential numbers that had been pouring in.

“We just wanted to try and do everything we could to help our state,” she said. “We were concerned about where this country was heading.”

Lunsford was discouraged by losses in Wisconsin and New Hampshire and the tough losses Republicans took in Senate races across the country.

“I really expected our country to step up,” she said.

The news was good for North Carolina Republicans Tuesday night, however. A hush fell over the room early in the evening at the county headquarters as volunteers and staffers, who gathered around a projector to watch the results pour in on Fox News, learned that Republican candidate Pat McCrory had been elected governor. That announcement was greeted with cheers from the 50 or so in attendance.

It was also revealed early that Mark Meadows had won the U.S. House of Representatives District 11 seat and Chris Whitmire had been chosen for the N.C. House of Representatives District 113 seat.

“We've been working very hard,” GOP Chairman Mike Scruggs said. “You'd like to get all the fruit you can get. We got some, but not all that we want.”

He was thrilled with the results of the governor's race.

“That was a fairly decisive victory,” he said.

The mystery of the night, however, still remained at 10.

“There's still so much unknown,” Scruggs said about the presidential race. “I at least want to know how North Carolina went before I go to sleep.”

For the last two months, Lunsford worked more than 10 hours a day at her job and then volunteered to get out the Republican vote, knocking on doors, making phone calls or whatever she needed to do. She was still making calls into the night across the country in support of Romney.

As she began to talk about her 16-year-old son, Tyler, she began to tear up. The future and the impact of the election on her son had inspired her to volunteer, even though she'd never been involved in politics before.

“I had an urgency in my heart,” she added as she started to walk to her car. “We fought the good fight and we fought hard. You can't regret that when you've fought so hard.”

Reach Millwood at 828-694-7881 or joey.millwood@blueridgenow.com.

Henderson County GOP cheers state victoriesBy Joey Millwood BlueRidgeNow.comNovember 6, 2012 11:28 PM

Jennifer Lunsford left Henderson County Republican Party headquarters Tuesday evening and stepped out into the crisp, cold air. The emotional toll was apparent in every word she spoke.

The night wasn't over, but she left headquarters, where volunteers had gathered to watch the results, at 10 p.m. discouraged with the presidential numbers that had been pouring in.

“We just wanted to try and do everything we could to help our state,” she said. “We were concerned about where this country was heading.”

Lunsford was discouraged by losses in Wisconsin and New Hampshire and the tough losses Republicans took in Senate races across the country.

“I really expected our country to step up,” she said.

The news was good for North Carolina Republicans Tuesday night, however. A hush fell over the room early in the evening at the county headquarters as volunteers and staffers, who gathered around a projector to watch the results pour in on Fox News, learned that Republican candidate Pat McCrory had been elected governor. That announcement was greeted with cheers from the 50 or so in attendance.

It was also revealed early that Mark Meadows had won the U.S. House of Representatives District 11 seat and Chris Whitmire had been chosen for the N.C. House of Representatives District 113 seat.

“We've been working very hard,” GOP Chairman Mike Scruggs said. “You'd like to get all the fruit you can get. We got some, but not all that we want.”

He was thrilled with the results of the governor's race.

“That was a fairly decisive victory,” he said.

The mystery of the night, however, still remained at 10.

“There's still so much unknown,” Scruggs said about the presidential race. “I at least want to know how North Carolina went before I go to sleep.”

For the last two months, Lunsford worked more than 10 hours a day at her job and then volunteered to get out the Republican vote, knocking on doors, making phone calls or whatever she needed to do. She was still making calls into the night across the country in support of Romney.

As she began to talk about her 16-year-old son, Tyler, she began to tear up. The future and the impact of the election on her son had inspired her to volunteer, even though she'd never been involved in politics before.

“I had an urgency in my heart,” she added as she started to walk to her car. “We fought the good fight and we fought hard. You can't regret that when you've fought so hard.”

Reach Millwood at 828-694-7881 or joey.millwood@blueridgenow.com.

Copyright 2012 BlueRidgeNow.com - All rights reserved. Restricted use only.

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Is state GOP taking a different look at immigration?

The call for moderation in the Republican Party's hard-line stance on illegal immigration came from a most unlikely source. So much so, that I almost fell off my chair listening to the guy.

It was an hour or so after the Obama administration announced the president's mini-Dream directive and already Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and various GOP congressional leaders had taken to the airwaves, decrying "backdoor amnesty."

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the state Republican Party was in the house (so to speak), taping a segment for 12 News' "Sunday Square Off" about Barack Obama's plan to confer temporary legal status on illegal immigrants brought here as children.

The party, Shane Wikfors said, needs to reconsider the message it is sending to Latino voters.

"It is a conversation that the Republican Party has got to have at our national convention in Tampa in August," he said. "I think this party needs to re-evaluate its position on how we deal with people that are part of us, part of our community, and this may go against the grain with a lot of the base.

"But, look, we have to take a serious look on how we deal with people who are here in this country and bring them into this melting pot we call America and get them engaged in the political process."

Wikfors went on to say that the state party chairman, Tom Morrissey, agrees with him and that he believes the first vice chairman, Russell Pearce, likely does, too.

OK, I did fall off my chair at that -- metaphorically, at least.

The party of Pearce and Brewer has demonstrated no interest in anything other than the enforcement-only approach that has made them national household words (not all of them printable). Yet here was the party's spokesman in Arizona -- a "tea party" guy, no less -- preaching pragmatism, a quality seldom spotted among the party faithful.

The sort of thing that might begin to inflate that pup tent, now occupied by party purists, into the big tent the party once claimed to possess.

So, naturally, it didn't take long for the elephant fur to start flying.

Randy Pullen, former state Republican Party chairman, fired off a letter to the party's executive committee, complaining Wikfors "effectively changed our party's position on illegal immigration."

"He condoned President Obama's action of last Friday," Pullen wrote. "He went on to state that the position of the party needs to change."

Pullen called on Morrissey to clarify his position.

"If he stands by what Shane has said, he needs to resign his position as chairman. If he disavows the statement by Shane, then Shane should be terminated immediately as communications director," Pullen wrote. "There is no excuse for misrepresenting so emphatically the position of the chairman on such an important issue in Arizona."

Morrissey told me on Tuesday that he supports the party platform, which calls for enforcing "the rule of law" and opposing amnesty. But curiously, he also said he supports Wikfors' "Square Off" remarks. "I am doing an outreach to the Latino community, and I'm assuming that you understand I'm talking about the legal community," Morrissey told me. "I believe that that was what he was trying to convey."

Wikfors was, indeed, talking about outreach to Latino voters -- by re-evaluating the party's position on illegal immigrants brought here as children.

Wikfors declined to comment on Tuesday. But the fact that he's still the party's communications director suggests that somebody over at GOP HQ sees the wisdom in his remarks.

And that would be good news for Republicans who not only would like to take out Obama in November but avoid going the way of the wooly mammoth in the decades to come, as the ranks of independent and Latino voters swell.

While party hard-liners continue to cross their arms and refuse to budge, it's time for pragmatists to find their voice, as Wikfors did: to reclaim control of their party and propose an actual workable solution to our ongoing, unending illegal-immigration dilemma.

Jeb Bush talks about it. Marco Rubio talks about it.

But in Arizona, no one talks about it. Not even John McCain or Jeff Flake, men who once believed that compromise was possible.

Unfortunately, that was then and this is now, when debate equals disloyalty in the ranks of the GOP, when moderation is seen as capitulation.

When the only acceptable Republican response is "secure our borders" and "no amnesty." As if that's a solution.

Or a winning strategy.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@ arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8635.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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State lawmakers lack long-term vision

(PNI) Regarding "Leaders warned on Arizona economic development" (Valley & State, Sunday):

Great story recalling the 2008 Morrison Institute report, and call to arms, with respect to the so-called Sun Corridor megapolitan region.

What's not so great is that the current Arizona Legislature seems to have no long-term vision, though they do have the responsibility and authority. Lawmakers simply are incapable of taking up this body of work, and Science Foundation Arizona CEO William Harris' challenge for a successful 21st-century Arizona, and moving forward.

Big thinkers and legacy leaders? Arizona? Not.

Where are the Goldwaters, Haydens, Udalls and Ellers for the 21st century?

--John and Patti Latson, Mesa

Editors should take own advice

Regarding "Temper words, win new voters" (Editorial, Tuesday):

Tempering words would be good advice for the Editorial Board to give itself as it castigates those elected by your readers, subscribers and advertisers. And for what? Exercising their right to free speech?

The leaders you criticize are on the front lines. This is how they see the war against America, Americans and Arizonans.

At least the editorial stopped short of calling them racists. For now.

--Gary Rudnick, Scottsdale

Take a stand: Take public transit

Arizona's Grand Canyon Sierra Club Chapter joins the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Arizona Public Interest Research Group, Sonoran Institute, Arizona Transit Association and the American Public Transit Association in encouraging you to "Dump the Pump" on Thursday (and every day) by taking public transportation.

Not only is taking transit a great way to save money, it's also a great way to send the message that you are breaking free from automobile dependency.

Even if you love your car, it's liberating to know there are other ways to get around. And even if you need your car, it's good to know how to use the alternative.

Taking public transit actually extends the life of your car by reducing wear and tear. It can also turn stressful driving time into productive reading time while you let someone else do the driving.

Visit www.valleymetro.org, where you may find that taking public transit is easier than you thought.

--Michael Brady, Scottsdale

Pentagon budget not a jobs bill

As a 24-year Navy veteran, I believe your editorial in which you relate cuts in the Defense Department budget to Arizona losing jobs is misguided ("Defense cuts call for unity," Editorial, Friday).

The Defense Department submits a budget request to Congress based on strategic requirements to maintain the country's security. The request balances the force's structure within the expected budget constraints. Any changes made to this force structure will take away from the balanced force the Pentagon has planned.

As the Defense secretary testified before a Senate subcommittee last week, "There's no free lunch here. Every low-priority program or overhead cost that is retained will have to be offset in cuts in higher-priority investments in order to comply" with the budget agreement.

He is referring to items placed in the budget the Pentagon doesn't want by congressmen keeping jobs in their states or districts.

The Pentagon budget should not be used as a jobs bill. And the mayor of Phoenix is not qualified to lobby for programs in the Defense Department budget. He has no business campaigning for any jobs or program funding!

While some may look at the jobs he may save, any jobs saved will cost the military from another part of the budget. I'm sure those sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines will be thankful someone here had a job when they can't get the part to fix their equipment because "it's not in the budget."

--Michael Yates, Mesa

Watching a political poker game

There are no ifs, ands or buts. President Obama is politically shrewd like a crafty chess player.

His recent executive order on the immigration-enforcement policy change to help young non-U.S. Hispanics who grew up in America will impact the presidential election and will have political consequences in the post-election.

If Mitt Romney wins and repeals the executive order without corresponding or better legislation, can you imagine what that would do to the Republican Party's future with Hispanic Americans?

Can you imagine the damage to the Republican Party's conservative base, if a President Romney does not repeal it right away or the tremendous pressure on any Republican Congress after it is repealed?

Regardless of whether you like Obama, whatever your position on illegal immigration, we are witnessing a political poker game that has great implications for the future of both political parties that pundits will be talking about for years, if not decades.

--Herbert Dippold Jr., Phoenix

Surrounded by Chicken Littles

Regarding "Talk of drones patrolling U.S. skies spawns anxiety" (Republic, Tuesday):

Is there anything under the sun that does not cause someone to have anxiety? Today we have a universe of "Chicken Little" with all the sky-is-falling people.

People had anxiety when the bow and arrow came about and when the gun was invented. I wonder what the next big thing will be to cause people to have anxiety. Maybe they will have anxiety over the possibility of Phoenix having snow in July.

--Harry V. Spangler, Phoenix

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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State turning blind eye to prison abuses

(PNI) Regarding the first part Sunday of The Arizona Republic's series "Death in the system":

Another article about prison abuse that makes one want to cry in shame.

While most people are indifferent to what happens in prisons because they think everybody is guilty anyway or that they deserve to be there, it is amazing that after being accused by Amnesty International of committing atrocities, the state's prison officials aren't even admitting that there's a problem.

They're just going to build more "supermax" prisons to house people in inhumane conditions.

How we can claim to be a society primarily based on Christian values and let these abuses and injustices continue? Or is it that because they are prisoners, they and their problems are ignorable?

--Michael House, Phoenix

Independents want decent choices

Regarding "Independents are just slow to choose" (Letters, Saturday):

The writer suggests that while R is for Republican, D for Democrat, I is for indecisive. I am an independent not because I am indecisive, but rather so that I have a choice to vote for either a moderate Republican or a moderate Democrat.

Since Ronald Reagan was president, the Republican Party has moved so far right it is left. Most Democrats are still further left than I like.

I want a representative, whether in the state Legislature, the U.S. House or Senate who will work for all, not just the very wealthy, who will represent all constituents and is willing to sit down and talk across the aisle and compromise. Compromise is not a dirty word.

--Patricia Abraham, Mesa

A new secondhand-smoke threat?

Regarding "Medical marijuana is a farce? Get real" (Letters, Thursday):

The criticism of drug companies is valid, but the endorsement of marijuana shows that many do not realize the danger of THC, a chemical compound of cannabis.

There are THC pills available, but they must be generic. Drug companies cannot get profits like their current products yield.

I was shocked during my course work in medicinal chemistry that THC inhibits cell division.

The thought of children or pregnant women being exposed to secondhand pot smoke is chilling.

Licenses for smoking of pot should be given only to people who have found that THC pills are ineffective.

--Donald Olander,

Ahwatukee Foothills

Attacking Bain Capital bad policy

It terrifies me to think that Bain Capital has become the centerpiece of the country's economic policy. It tells me the White House does not have a clue on how to energize an anemic economy and pull out of the sluggish recovery.

It seems like every liberal/progressive is now jumping on the Bain Capital assault bandwagon. The liberal media relish that negativity.

While Bain Capital is one of the world's leading private-investment firms, it is only a fraction of what makes the U.S economy tick.

A private-equity firm is very different from a government-led venture. It does not use taxpayers' money.

President Barack Obama has used taxpayer money to become the "social-venture capitalist" of the day. His social-venture failures -- Solyndra, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt and Mountain Plaza, to name a few -- suffered layoffs and plant shutdowns.

Bain Capital does not belong on the national campaign table. Take it off.

--Ray Torres, Scottsdale

Elect candidates who care for state

Regarding Laurie Roberts' column Saturday, "Fellow Arizonans, it's about time we shake the nuts from the tree" (Valley & State):

That was so very well said.

More and more often we are getting comments from out-of-state family and friends wondering what is going on in Arizona and where we find people like this to elect!

People in Arizona, we must find and elect candidates who have as their focus what is good for Arizona and not just on ways to make points with ideological zealots.

The same thing is happening nationally to a large degree, but let's not be the leader in hopeless and useless political combat.

Roberts' column is so right on. Thank you!

--C. and M.J. Howe, Chandler

There's plenty of tobacco outcry

Regarding "Follow tobacco industry's money" (Letters, Friday):

The author cites "443,000 tobacco-related deaths per year" and claims there has been "little public outcry." As a former smoker, I must ask if she is living in a cave?

Tobacco is one of the most heavily taxed "sin" items, done in the name of discouraging use. Advertising has been banned from television, restricted in print and, coming soon, actual packaging with sufferers' aliments printed on the package of cigarettes, which is unprecedented in scope.

Smoking is banned in almost every public place, including restaurants, bars and small businesses.

Lighting up is even banned outside within a certain amount of feet of the doors of buildings. Our children are taught tobacco dangers as soon as they start school.

This all sounds like plenty of public outcry.

While following the money is usually a great way to see where it is going, that has little to do with the public education about the dangers of smoking.

--Chuck Parkhurst, Phoenix

Heat, flip-flops, hiking don't mix

David Letterman has stupid animal tricks; Phoenix has stupid people tricks, like those hiking on one of our many trails in flip-flops with very little water -- and it's only 112 degrees.

--Angie Cole, Phoenix

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Besides the Hats, What Good Are State Conventions?

Are political conventions necessary?

Texas Democrats are in Houston for their state convention. Texas Republicans are in Fort Worth for the same thing. The Libertarians are meeting this weekend near DFW Airport, and the Green Party is having its convention outside San Antonio.

It’s actually easier to make the convention case for the Libertarians and the Greens, who use their gatherings to put people on the ballot, because they don’t hold primary elections.

The two major parties, on the other hand, held their primaries on May 29 and will sort out the remaining 37 contests in runoffs on July 31. The conventioneers don’t have anything to do with that, except when they vote back home.

They are at their conventions to elect the officers of their party and the executive committee members who meet periodically to handle party business, as well as to pick the delegates and others who will get passes and floor and voting rights at the national conventions this summer. Whether those conventions are still necessary is another open question, but this is about the state contests.

How many people need to be at these gatherings?

Is this a scam invented by the state’s convention and visitors bureaus and the rest of the travel industry?

Is it meant just to get some publicity for the parties and candidates? To get the party faithful enthused for the remaining five months of the political season? To make money?

And, as a selfish and personal side note, how is it that both of the political parties landed their conventions in the only two places in Texas with Major League Baseball teams, on a weekend when the Astros and the Rangers are, respectively, in Chicago and San Francisco? Do the teams know something we don’t? Do the planners want everyone to concentrate and avoid sports and other amusements?

State conventions don’t usually make news — other than the perfunctory official business stories — unless candidates say amazing things or partisans get into arguments.

Texas Democrats have historically made news with their intramural fights, where two caucuses take opposite positions and put everyone else in the party on edge, or when two or more groups contend to represent the same part of the party.

Texas Republicans almost always make news with their platform, which is full of specific programs and planks that spook candidates and other Republicans alike.

The Democrats have a long list of weird caucuses. The Republicans fly their colors in their platform. These are conventions, after all, for the most Republican Republicans and the most Democratic Democrats. They are fervent, like ham radio operators or model rocketeers, quilters or comic book collectors.

The conventions rally the faithful. Like those various and numerous rabid hobbyists, political people find comfort with members of their own herd. It’s not appropriate in most other settings to put on that vest with 57 different campaign buttons, that bowler with the red, white and blue sequins, or the old Ross Perot T-shirt.

And the conventions do give the partisans a chance to see many of the people on their ticket, like them or not. But not the big dogs: Mitt Romney didn’t schedule a visit to the Republican convention in Fort Worth. President Obama wasn’t planning a stop in Houston.

Unless they’re looking for money, presidential candidates from both parties ignore us, assuming that the state will hand its electoral votes to whatever Republican gets the nomination. That’s been a safe bet for more than 30 years.

These can be risky places even for the locals. On Thursday, the crowd at the Republican convention roared with boos when Gov. Rick Perry reasserted his support for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, now a United States Senate candidate.

Tough crowd.

Soon, they’ll be gone. The Fort Worth Convention Center will get ready for real estate asset managers and then for a gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center will get the State Bar and then a gun and knife show.

The delegates, energized and/or exhausted, will pack up the vests and funny hats and get to work on elections, safe in the knowledge that they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

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Technical-career push is a boon for state

(PNI) Joe Klein recently wrote in Time magazine about Arizona's vocational-education efforts. The article was timely and right on the mark.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, teacher Clyde McBride, the career and technical education (CTE) agricultural-sciences teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Kayenta, and Sally Downey, superintendent of the spectacular East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa should all be commended for thinking outside the box.

Actions like these are an important step toward substantially increasing the quality of instruction, improving student achievement and ensuring all high-school graduates are college- and career-ready.

Huppenthal hit the nail on the head when he told Klein, "I really believe that some form of CTE is essential for a world-class education. … Every surgeon needs to know how to sew, saw and drill."

--Micky A. Gutier, Phoenix

Liberal writers ignoring the truth

Republic columnist Laurie Roberts apparently thinks it is tomfoolery to seek the truth about Barack Obama.

There are enough inconsistencies on the birth certificate that was supposedly supplied by the White House from the president and enough questions as to where our current president was born to seek out once and for all his true birthplace.

It's not hard to tell which direction the political pendulum swings for your columnist and others at The Arizona Republic.

The truth will set you and our country free.

--Gary Carlston, Glendale

Don't deny payment for care at ER

People who believe they are having emergencies should go to the emergency room without fear that their health plans won't cover the visits.

That is the position of the nation's emergency physicians, a position backed by more than three-quarters of Americans who believe health insurance should pay for every ER visit.

Yet private health plans and Medicaid increasingly want to cut back on coverage for ER visits if those visits turn out to be non-emergencies.

The Prudent Layperson Standard protects people from exactly this kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking, since the average person cannot distinguish between excruciating pain that won't kill them and excruciating pain that will.

A recent poll shows that 85 percent of Americans who have been to the ER felt they could not have waited to see their regular doctors.

Apart from being bad medicine, denying payment for emergency care is short-sighted and unlikely to save much.

Emergency care represents just 2 percent of all health-care spending in the United States.

--Dr. Nicholas Vasquez, Chandler,

The writer is past president of the Arizona College of Emergency Physicians.

Bush backer needs to check further

Regarding "Don't blame Bush for bad economy" (Letters, Saturday):

The letter writer wants to blame President Bill Clinton for the housing bust. If she had checked, in 2003, George W. Bush wanted to appoint an overseer to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In 2003, there were 229 Republicans and 204 Democrats in the House; in the Senate, there were 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats. The measure failed.

Fannie and Freddie later hired Newt Gingrich to lobby the Republicans in their interest.

--Barbara Anderson, Mesa

Church-led values are solid values

Regarding a recent comment in letters about not forcing church-minded values on others: Values like honoring your mother and father, paying taxes, respecting something as fundamental as marriage?

Shouldn't stealing, perjury, adultery, also be left open to private interpretation? Stealing is just borrowing, isn't it?

Face facts: Church-minded values liberate everyone from chaotic, destructive behaviors. Good fences make good neighbors.

Meanwhile, mind if someone else "borrows" your car/wife indefinitely?

--Greg DiMichel, Peoria

Ken Bennett's self-inflicted wound

I am a solid Democrat. However, I have admired Ken Bennett for what I believed to be his honesty, level-headedness and desire to do what he saw as the best for Arizona. I have voted for him and had planned to consider voting for him for governor.

Imagine my shock when reading that he is promoting the "birther" cause, an action that is hard to see in any light other than an attempt to pander to the fantasies of an ever-shrinking segment of the Republican Party.

The only positive I see in the secretary of state's ill-advised, lamely explained decision is that its desperation in beating a dead horse lends credence to the growing number of voices proclaiming Arizona an in- play state for President Barack Obama.

--Ron Woerner, Prescott

Referendum would help end graft

People bemoan the fact that our elected representatives in state government have done little or nothing to stop the flood of gifts from influence peddlers.

Why would anyone expect the people receiving free anything to draft a law to halt the flow? If you wish to stop the practice, use the ballot referendum process.

I will sign the petition without hesitation if the law has teeth in it. Such a law should apply to all levels of Arizona government to elected and per diem persons alike.

--Michael Wright, Phoenix

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Biden tells Ariz. Dems state is up for grabs

Vice President Joe Biden roused Democrats in Phoenix on Thursday by becoming the latest to suggest that Arizona and its 11 electoral votes may be in play in this year's presidential election.

"We think we have a real shot at winning the presidential race here in Arizona," Biden said to the raucous applause of about 100 donors at the Heard Museum for a fundraising luncheon.

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is not accepting the conventional wisdom that Arizona inevitably will go Republican this year, Biden said, promising, "You're going to see organizers here."

The big question for political observers is whether Biden was speaking to a deepening belief among Democrats that they really can take the traditional red state, which has backed Democrats for president only twice in the past 65 years, or if his remarks just reflected political gamesmanship. But at this point, Democratic leaders are insisting they view Arizona as legitimately up for grabs.

Obama campaign officials have said that they believe Obama would have carried Arizona in 2008 had John McCain, the state's senior senator, not been the GOP presidential nominee that year. Obama beat McCain in surrounding states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.

Republicans strenuously disagree that Obama has a chance of beating Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, in Arizona. Republicans have a voter-registration edge here, and Romney, a Mormon, could benefit from the state's large Mormon population.

"Arizona voters realize that the Obama-Biden administration has failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs and turn around the economy," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said. "They realize that this president is in over his head on economic matters and he has no plans to put middle-class families back to work. Arizona is ready to elect a successful businessman like Mitt Romney, who understands how the economy works and can restore America's prosperity."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, today will make his first public appearances in Arizona since he won a decisive victory over his GOP rivals in the state's Feb. 28 presidential-preference election.

He is expected to appear with McCain at a Republican National Committee gathering at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort; host a Hispanic business round table and participate in a rally in Tempe; and headline a big-ticket fundraiser at a home in Phoenix's Biltmore area.

Romney's campaign also will announce today his endorsement by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

"After a long primary, it is time for the Republican Party to come together and support the candidate who will defeat President Obama," Kyl, the Senate minority whip who is not seeking re-election to a fourth term this year, said in a written statement.

Despite Romney's support from the Arizona Republican establishment, one political expert noted that Arizona has elected Democrats to statewide office, so an Obama victory is not too far-fetched.

"But remarks like that (Biden's) are more in the order of a head fake that is trying to get the Republicans to divert their scarce campaign resources to states that they're going to carry anyway," said John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. "This is more about psychological warfare than electoral-college arithmetic."

Perhaps the likeliest scenario for Obama to carry Arizona, Pitney said, would be if he built up a substantial national lead like President Bill Clinton did when he won the state in 1996.

"I don't think that 2012 is going to be like that, and in a close election, you have to concentrate your scarce resources where they can do you the most good," he said. "And that's probably defending the states he carried four years ago rather than trying to stake out new territory."

But Bruce Merrill, a veteran political scientist and senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said he believes the presidential race in Arizona is much closer than he initially would have predicted.

Statewide poll results that he intends to release soon reflect a tight race between Romney and Obama among Arizona voters.

Other polls over the past couple of years have had Romney performing well against Obama in the state, although an automated survey conducted in February had the race tied. However, those polls were taken before it was completely clear that Romney would be the nominee.

"If the election were held today, I think it would be very close, but I think Romney would probably win in Arizona," Merrill said. "But strategists from around the country have called me, and they are arguing that Arizona is in play. I think the Obama people really do believe that they can win here."

At the Phoenix fundraiser, Biden laid out why he believes the Democratic ticket will win a second term in November.

The vice president predicted the Obama campaign's grass-roots ground game will counteract the millions of dollars of negative advertising that they expect the Republicans and their allies to throw their way.

The American people also will reward Obama for the backbone he showed in making tough decisions related to his health-care-reform overhaul, the automobile-industry bailout and the fight against al-Qaida terrorists, he said.

Biden got a hearty response to a campaign "bumper sticker" slogan he suggested for the Democrats: "Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive."

"Neither of those things would be true had Romney been president the last four years," Biden said.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton spoke at the fundraiser prior to Biden, who was introduced by Karen Casas, a 17-year-old student from South Mountain High School in Phoenix and a campaign volunteer.

Stanton praised the administration for the help the 2009 economic-stimulus package gave Phoenix during the recent recession.

"Their actions put people to work and kept people at work, particularly teachers and public-safety officers and police and firefighters, during the worst of the economic slump," Stanton said. "And now, we have witnessed more than 25 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, creating over 4 million jobs nationwide since March of 2010 -- 30,000 of those jobs right here in Arizona. ? The city I lead is better off than it was four years ago."

Tickets for the Heard Museum event started at $500 and raised money for the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and multiple state Democratic parties.

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Republicans bringing party leaders to state - Montgomery Advertiser

Several prominent Republicans will visit Alabama in coming weeks to help raise the party?s profile and help raise money for coming elections. And the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party hopes to use some of the funds raised at events to help win seats at the county level.

The Republicans who will be visiting Alabama include Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Rep. Allen West, and Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush.

Bill Armistead, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said when he became chairman he committed to bring rising stars in the party to different parts of the state.

Scott, who was elected in 2010, and Gov. Robert Bentley will be at the Grand in Dothan at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Jindal, who took office in 2008 and who also served in Congress, will be in Mobile on May 10. He will attend events at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. Jindal is often discussed as a rising star in the party.

Fleischer, who was the face of the Bush administration from 2001 to 2003 when he served as press secretary and who is now a CNN contributor, will be in Birmingham for a reception May 21.

West, who was elected in 2010 to represent south Florida in Congress and who retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army, is the keynote speaker for the state party?s annual summer dinner on June 22 at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center. There will be a reception at 6 p.m. and a dinner at 7 p.m. General admission is $150.

West, even though he is in his first term, is no stranger to controversy.

Mark Kennedy, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, criticized West and Alabama Republicans for bringing him to the state. In a post on the Alabama Democratic Party?s website, Kennedy criticized West for his recent comments that he knew 81 members of Congress who are communists.

?Like his Republican brethren, Rep. West continually uses the politics of fear and rage to forward his own radical agenda,? Kennedy wrote.

He also wrote that ?Rep. West?s comments are an outrageous, but all too common, attempt by the Republican Party to pit a nation against itself.?

Primarily, Armistead said, the money raised at the events will be used for upcoming elections. He said some of the events are not fundraisers.

Armistead said they are also working to try to get former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican nominee for president, back to the state.

With a plan that includes ?candidate school? and with the money raised at events and from donors, Armistead said they are targeting county races. He said, across the state, probate judges and circuit clerks are on the ballot this year. The chairman said the party is running a full slate of candidates, even in some areas that are still controlled by Democrats.

?We?re going to take this down to the street level,? Armistead said.

Armistead said about two-thirds of county courthouses are still controlled by Democrats, which he said is not acceptable. He hopes, in November, to pick up about 20 more courthouses.

That, Armistead said, is a ?pretty challenging goal,? but he believes it is manageable.

He said the party has recruited candidates over the last year and some of them have never run for office, but are respected in their communities. He said 750 Republicans qualified to run for office in the state this year.

?We?re going to have a real good year of celebrating our Republican victories,? he said.

People can call 205-212-5900 for more information about the events.

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DELAWARE: State GOP turns page with new leader - Delmarva Now

REHOBOTH BEACH -- Delaware's Republican Party voted through a change of the guard Friday night, replacing longtime national committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw with businesswoman and conservative activist Ellen Barrosse at the state party's convention.

The party's other representative on the national committee, Wilmington lobbyist Laird Stabler, avoided an expected challenge inside the Rehoboth Convention Center hall, where RNC chair Reince Priebus took time away from the national elections to rally state Republicans.

The election of Barrosse, who founded the anti-abortion group A Rose and a Prayer, also moves the party rightward two years after a north-south rift resulted in tea party candidate Christine O'Donnell toppling moderate Republican Mike Castle in a U.S. Senate primary election.

"This is going to be an interesting four years," said Barrosse, who is also the chief executive of a Wilmington-based regulatory consulting business. "The things that separate us, north and south, moderate and conservative, some of those are real issues. They are serous issues," Barrosse added, while calling for party unity. "I don't want to say it's a matter of holding hands and singing Kumbaya. It's not."

Castle and O'Donnell both attended Friday's convention, staged inside the Rehoboth Convention Center on Rehoboth Avenue. Michelle Rollins was also in attendance to endorse Stabler, who had come under fire for thousands of dollars in political donations made to Democrats, including leaders Pete Schwartzkopf and Helene Keeley, as well as the party itself.

State Auditor Tom Wagner, the party's only elected official controlling a statewide office, defended Stabler against that criticism. "In the business you're in, you have to do that," Wagner said, saying the party needs to be "in unification mode."

Stabler echoed those remarks after he was re-elected without a challenge. "To move forward, to be successful, we have to be unified," Stabler said.

Republicans in Delaware are fighting to remain relevant despite a deep political disadvantage in Dover and throughout the state. Both chambers of the Legislature are controlled by strong Democratic majorities, and a Republican last controlled the Governor's Office in 1992. Rakestraw had served for 37 years, making her the longest-serving member of the Republican National Committee. She announced earlier his week that she would not seek re-election to her post.

Priebus used his remarks mostly to criticize President Barack Obama. Referencing comments that Obama made to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, saying that he would have "more flexibility" to work on middle defense and other issues after this fall's election, Priebus questioned Obama's "character." Media microphones picked up the conversation that Obama thought was private. "Character is how you act when nobody is looking," Priebus said Friday. "I think we have a character problem in the White House."

Priebus also praised Rakestraw, calling her a "great, great friend of mine." Rakestraw, who will keep her job through this August's national convention in Tampa, is the longest-serving member of the RNC.

"I hope you all realize that just because somebody's been in office for a long time doesn't mean they're ineffective," Priebus said. "Priscilla Rakestraw has been a leader of the Republican National Committee."

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Florida passes bill to test state workers for drugs, alcohol

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida lawmakers on Friday approved a measure allowing state agency heads to randomly test employees for illegal drugs, sending the bill to Governor Rick Scott, who is expected to sign it.

By a 26-14 vote, the Senate approved a measure, House Bill 1205, that allows up to 10 percent of a department's employees to be randomly tested for alcohol and other substance abuse.

"This is the 21st Century and drug abuse is rampant," said Senator Alan Hays, a Republican from Umatilla and Senate sponsor of the bill.

The bill would allow tests to be conducted every 90 days. It would prohibit department heads from firing employees who initially test positive for drugs but could require such employees to participate in rehabilitation programs.

Backers of the measure said the voluntary program mirrors efforts that have long been in place in private industry.

"I've had a drug-free workplace for more than 20 years," said Senator Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who is chief executive of a printing company. "I believe that it has contributed to higher quality employees."

Critics, a coalition of Democrats and at least one conservative Republican, said the measure was an intrusive and unnecessary procedure. They also chided their Republican colleagues for a "big government" program that they said would improperly insert the government into an employee's personal life.

"We're talking less personal freedom without probable cause," said Senator Chris Smith, a Democrat from Fort Lauderdale. "This is more government intrusion and more costs."

"It is a waste of our time and our money," said Senator Larcenia Bullard, a Democrat from Miami.

Lawmakers in several states have passed similar measures in the past few years. Florida legislators last year voted to require applicants for federal public assistance to pass a test for illegal drugs. A federal judge barred enforcement of that law pending resolution of a challenge to its constitutionality.

The courts have generally upheld random drug testing for workers in jobs that involve public safety. But opponents say that broader testing of workers who are not suspected of wrongdoing violates their constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizure, and robs them of due process.

(Editing by Paul Thomasch)

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Republicans aim to block Cal State chairman&apos;s second term - Los Angeles Times

Cal State Chancellor Charles B. Reed listens as board Chairman Herbert L. Carter addresses the trustees. (Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times / January 25, 2012)

As chairman of the governing board of the California State University system, Herbert L. Carter has positioned himself as a consensus builder at a time when the system has been battered as never before by budget cuts, student protests and discord over salary and hiring policies.

The former president of the United Way and chairman of the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations has spent decades attempting to forge compromise with differing factions. But now he is struggling to bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature to win a second term on the Board of Trustees.

Senate Republicans have signaled that they will block the confirmation, citing Carter's role in controversial decisions last year to increase executive pay while also boosting student tuition.

Democrats see the opposition as partisan posturing having little to do with those actions. Although Democrats control both legislative houses, Republicans have leverage in this fight: nominations to the Cal State board are among the few that require a two-thirds majority, meaning at least two Republican votes are needed.

A decision must be made by Monday, the last Senate floor session before the confirmation deadline on Wednesday.

Last week, Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown asking him to withdraw his appointment of Carter.

"Since 1984, Herbert Carter has been near the center of every CSU pay hike scandal,'' Anderson wrote. "The CSU trustees don't seem to understand that their 'compromise' of setting a CSU's president's pay at $325,000 is insulting to California students, parents, and taxpayers."

Anderson referred to the board's recent action — proposed by Carter — to cap the pay of new executives at 10% above that of their predecessor, with a limit of $325,000 in public funds.

Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said that Carter "has a long and distinguished record of service and commitment to higher education and he deserves the consideration and support of all senators, regardless of party affiliation."

Speaking to reporters on Friday in Washington, D.C., the governor said Republicans "get a little petty. They don't have much power left, so if they can take a shot they will."

Carter, 78, one of the few board members with an extensive education background, was appointed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the 25-member panel in 2004. Carter declined a request to be interviewed.

He became chairman in 2009, presiding over a system that has suffered devastating budget cuts and imposed steep tuition increases — from $2,334 in 2004 to $5,472 this academic year for undergraduates.

A board meeting in November at which trustees approved another 9% fee hike for fall 2012 was marked by violent disruptions. Trustees were criticized for leaving the session and reconvening in another room with no members of the public present. That followed a public outcry over the $400,000 salary — $100,000 more than his predecessor — awarded last summer to San Diego State President Elliot Hirshman.

Criticism of those actions, though, was led by Democrats including Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) and Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), all of whom crafted legislation to limit pay for campus presidents. Gov. Jerry Brown also wrote a scathing letter to Carter criticizing the moves.

Republicans cited Brown's letter about the pay packages and said the issue had not been adequately resolved.

"If they were consistent they would stand with us,'' Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) said of his Democratic colleagues. "I'm going to oppose any of these trustees that come up for confirmation who voted for pay increases during these tough economic times. I would be shocked if some of these Democrats don't join us in opposing this appointment."

Lieu, however, supports Carter and accused Republicans of politicizing the appointment.

"He is the kind of trustee that you want — someone who will respond to what students, faculty and legislators say to him — and it would be a shame if he is not reconfirmed," Lieu said.

Carter was raised in Arkansas and received a bachelor's degree at the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, and a doctorate in public administration at USC. He was executive director of the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations in the late 1960s, and president and chief executive of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles in the 1990s. He served in several academic posts in the Cal State system, including affirmative action officer, executive vice chancellor for administration and acting president of Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Those who have known or worked with Carter describe him as fair-minded and decent, an unlikely figure to have become a political foil in the rough and tumble jousting of state politics. While he presides over the sometimes contentious bi-monthly meeting of trustees in Long Beach, much of the ire over fee hikes and salary disputes has been aimed at Cal State Chancellor Charles B. Reed.

San Francisco State President Robert Corrigan said Carter has been an effective advocate for students and the university.

"The heart of the matter is that he has only the best interests of the university in mind," said Corrigan, who is retiring at the end of the school year after 24 years as president. "He speaks eloquently about the needs of students, he is open and fair in meetings and I think we will be weakened if we do in fact lose him as a member of board …It's not good for the campuses, not good for students and frankly, unfair to Herb."

As a trustee, Carter has sought student input and often seeks the middle ground on difficult issues, said Gregory Washington, a Cal State Fullerton student and president of the Cal State Student Assn.

"He has always seen students as an ally that can work with CSU and not as opponents," Washington said. "He was also a leader of civil rights in higher education and he offers the voice of compromise a lot of the time."

carla.rivera@latimes.com

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

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State rep fuming over budget cut letter from daughter (The Lookout)

North Carolina state GOP Rep. Mike Stone said he is furious that he received a letter from his third-grade daughter asking him to "Please put the budget higher, dad."

Stone's daughter and other students at Tramway Elementary were writing about the Lee County Board of Education's plan to eliminate 126 educators, due to state budget cuts. Overall, proposed state-wide cuts to public schools could eliminate 9,300 jobs. Stone told The Sanford Herald that the notes were were full of "talking points."

"They put all the ideas on the board and coached them through it," he said. "The class was asked to write a paper on why (my daughter's) daddy should not let teachers assistants get fired. She thinks she's done a great thing, and I'm not going to tell her otherwise." He may, however, take action against the school, he says.

The superintendent told the paper that the class project was a writing exercise for the students and encourages civic engagement.

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