Arizona Politics

Arizona's superdelegates can't make up their minds - yet - even as the rest of the country begins to fall in line behind one of the Democratic presidential contenders.

The state House voted 33-25 this afternoon to ask voters to constitutionally bar gays from being wed.

John McCain spent a considerable portion of his news conference in Phoenix last week outlining his presidential campaign’s new efforts to reach Hispanic voters.

Gov. Janet Napolitano eliminated key elements of a major transportation initiative this week, agreeing not to tax homebuilders in exchange for their support and $100,000 to kick-start the campaign.

More than 1,100 GOP activists will gather today at the Arizona Republican Convention at the Phoenix Marriott Mesa in Mesa to pick delegates for the party’s national convention.

Tribune writer Dennis Welch has a hot story about Gov. Janet Napolitano cutting a secret deal with Arizona’s biggest homebuilder group to provide $100,000 for an initiative campaign to raise the state sales tax for transportation projects.

PRESCOTT - Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers.

As he launched his campaign Thursday to become Maricopa County's head prosecutor, Democrat Tim Nelson picked up the support of his former boss, Gov. Janet Napolitano, who called the race "enormously important."

WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.

Gov. Janet Napolitano is defending plans to raise the state sales tax by a penny to fund transit improvements rather than tax those who will most directly benefit.

Two former lawmakers scrapped plans Tuesday to ask voters to revamp how the state’s congressional and legislative districts are crafted. Ken Clark and Roberta Voss stopped gathering signatures for their initiative drive, which would have forced the creation of more politically “competitive” districts.

A state panel gave final approval Tuesday to requiring vehicles sold in Arizona to meet new standards for greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2011.

Business and community groups took the first steps Tuesday to persuading Arizonans to raise the taxes on virtually everything they buy to build, widen and repair roads and fund a series of mass-transit projects — including a rail line from Tucson to Phoenix and perhaps beyond.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, says House Speaker Jim Weiers should not be holding up an illegal immigration bill that would let voters decide whether local police agencies should deal with federal immigration laws.

Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to use photo radar, jail inmates and borrowing to help balance the state budget for the coming year, which is projected to be even more out of whack than the current one.