AZ-SEN 2018: Sinema Paradiso

[MAINEiac4434]

Donny, please endorse Ward or, even better, Arpaio.

Honestly. I don't think you should count on this since Luther Strange has been defeated in the Alabama senatorial primary despite being endorsed by Trump.

Perhaps, but in that case the more radical candidate defeated the more moderate, establishmenty one. If Trump endorses a more radical and antiestablishment candidate, it would definitely work in their advantage.

[QAnonKelly]

It’ll be interesting to see if Sinema gains or loses on her lead once she has an opponent soon. The damage has been done tho, there’s no real way for her to lose unless she’s an ax murderer or something.

[Antonio the Sixth]

God, why are all the candidates in this race so awful?

[smoltchanov]

God, why are all the candidates in this race so awful?

May be - Arizona is simply not liberal enough for your tastes? And candidates simply reflect this fact?

[UWS]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

Oof, I feel this one tightening in the favor of McSally, I think Sinema will win 50-48 rn.

[IceSpear]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

This is a pretty good ad. Dems shouldn't underestimate McSally. She's done a pretty damn good job dispatching Ward and Arpaio. And before you counter with "dispatching Ward and Arpaio isn't impressive" remember that those two nuts are beloved among Arizona Republicans. She could end up winning the primary by a bigger margin than McCain. She also won a district Hillary won by 5 points by a 14 point blowout in 2016.

I find it funny how everyone here underrates her but overrates Dean Heller, who got less votes than Mitt Romney and won by 1 point against a corrupt candidate under ethics investigation and is also in a far bluer state.

[Devout Centrist]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

This is rather off issue for this election cycle

[Xing]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

This is a pretty good ad. Dems shouldn't underestimate McSally. She's done a pretty damn good job dispatching Ward and Arpaio. And before you counter with "dispatching Ward and Arpaio isn't impressive" remember that those two nuts are beloved among Arizona Republicans. She could end up winning the primary by a bigger margin than McCain. She also won a district Hillary won by 5 points by a 14 point blowout in 2016.

I find it funny how everyone here underrates her but overrates Dean Heller, who got less votes than Mitt Romney and won by 1 point against a corrupt candidate under ethics investigation and is also in a far bluer state.

Much as a dislike how she's considered a "moderate", I have to agree with this. The idea that Arizona is more likely to flip than Nevada is laughable

[henster]

This is why Gallego should've ran. Nullifies military advantage McSally has, yea he's liberal but so was Sinema in the past, she's not going to escape that no matter how much she has tried to moderate.

[Antonio the Sixth]

If Dems somehow won every competitive Senate race this cycle except for Arizona, I certainly wouldn't shed a tear. Hopefully this would convince Democrats to run someone with a spine next time.

[Blair]

One ad doesn’t change the race. This line of attack was always going to come; it’s only a matter of time before the MS-13 stuff.

Whilst the democrats have certainly milked it for what it’s worth this cycle, I do wonder to what extent Military service alone counts as anything other than a good backstory

[Beet]

If DemsReps somehow won every competitive Senate race this cycle except for Arizona, I certainly wouldn't shed a tear.

I feel the opposite. I have an irrational resentment of McSally dating back from her Congressional election, as I felt she only won because Gabby Giffords was shot in the head. I know it's unfair to resent her for taking advantage of a tragedy to build her career, but I do.

[mencken]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

Ahh, the same line of attack that stopped Donald Trump from winning South Carolina by more than 10 points.

[Pollster]

Regardless of the quality/contents of the ad, the McSally team firing at Sinema implies that they are no longer particularly worried about the primary.

[pppolitics]

Martha McSally hammers Kirsten Sinema in an attack ad focusing on Sinema's anti-war when she protested against military action even after 9/11, describing her as weak on national security while boosting McSally by underlining her military service.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/23/martha-mcsally-kyrsten-sinema-attack-ad-794337

Weak sauce

Oh no! Sinema was caught wearing a pink tutu!

What's she going to do now? /s

[Progressive Pessimist]

This is another one of those races that has been and will remain a tossup.

[Webnicz]

I want to give an actual update on this race, I understand its hard for those not in AZ to keep up and therefore judge the state of the race on ads.

McSally has, as the Arizona Republic reported "become a better version of Ward". All she had to do to win the primary was stay a moderate and appeal to independents in AZ, instead she walked way to the right.
she's literally been acting just like her.
Does anyone think this is a good way to appeal to moderates??!?!?!
https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1029962768860864512

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2018/08/14/martha-mcsally-snubs-john-mccain-defense-bill-trump/991740002/

[TheRocketRaccoon]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/23/democrats-threaten-to-capture-arizona-senate-seat.html

"While the GOP candidates are embroiled in an intraparty battle ahead of Tuesday's primary, the anticipated Democratic nominee, Kyrsten Sinema, is pouring millions of dollars into ads targeting independent voters who are key to flipping the seat.
The Republican candidates have failed to engage with the independent and moderate voters who will likely determine the election outcome, GOP strategists say."

[IceSpear]

Sinema clearly learned nothing from 2016 if she thinks there's legions of "moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist" heroes out there ready and willing to support the most moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist candidate. She should've spent all this extra time she had slamming McSally for being a Ryan/McConnell stooge and going far to the right to pander to the base. Instead she spent all her time talking about what a moderate hero she was and how much she hated Chuck Schumer. Bold strategy, we'll see if it pays off.

McSally, on the other hand, is already hitting Sinema where it hurts. She is a far superior candidate.

[adrac]

https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-republican-kelli-ward-blames-mccain-of-dying-to-hurt-senate-campaign-d4f8480d0e36/
Stay classy...

[Landslide Lyndon]

Sinema clearly learned nothing from 2016 if she thinks there's legions of "moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist" heroes out there ready and willing to support the most moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist candidate. She should've spent all this extra time she had slamming McSally for being a Ryan/McConnell stooge and going far to the right to pander to the base. Instead she spent all her time talking about what a moderate hero she was and how much she hated Chuck Schumer. Bold strategy, we'll see if it pays off.

McSally, on the other hand, is already hitting Sinema where it hurts. She is a far superior candidate.

I agree that running as a moderate hero ain't what it used to be.
But why should Sinema waste time and money painting McSally as an extremist when McSally herself is doing such a good job on that?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sinema clearly learned nothing from 2016 if she thinks there's legions of "moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist" heroes out there ready and willing to support the most moderate, independent, reasonable, centrist candidate. She should've spent all this extra time she had slamming McSally for being a Ryan/McConnell stooge and going far to the right to pander to the base. Instead she spent all her time talking about what a moderate hero she was and how much she hated Chuck Schumer. Bold strategy, we'll see if it pays off.

McSally, on the other hand, is already hitting Sinema where it hurts. She is a far superior candidate.

This x1000

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-republican-kelli-ward-blames-mccain-of-dying-to-hurt-senate-campaign-d4f8480d0e36/
Stay classy...

Yes, McCain specifically stopped his treatment in order to hurt Ward...

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Did anything happen this month to taint Sinema and prop up McSally?

All I can gather was McSally released her first anti-Sinema ad, followed by posters now proclaiming Sinema as a bad candidate running a terrible campaign