Only Obama, Clinton set up AZ headquarters

With Arizona’s presidential preference election in less than a month, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton still are the only two candidates with full-blown campaign operations in the state.

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Republicans John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul all have developed networks of supporters and have dropped in for fundraisers and speaking engagements, but none of the Republicans has opened a bona fide campaign headquarters in Arizona.

In contrast, the Obama and Clinton campaigns have telephone numbers, street addresses and front doors. The Democrats’ strategy raises a question: Why are they bothering to campaign in McCain’s home state at all?

The answer: McCain has lost his luster on the home front, according to Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, D-District 5, serving as Clinton’s state campaign co-chairwoman.

“We’ve proven that Democrats are strong here,” she said. “Even though he’s a United States senator here, people are tired of Republicans, and Democrats will win.”

McCain’s state campaign co-leader Kurt Davis chuckled at that analysis.

“What they’re doing is they’re actually trying to make themselves competitive in their primary. Anybody who makes a statement that they are doing that to pursue a general election victory in Arizona, if John McCain is the Republican nominee, is, quite frankly, not being upfront and truthful,” Davis said.

In terms of the percentage of registered voters, Republicans hold an advantage, with 38.2 percent of all registrations, according to numbers compiled by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office through Oct. 1.

Democrats are next at 33 percent, followed by independents at 28.1 percent. Libertarians account for less than 1 percent. Democrats feel independents tend to break their way on Election Day, which can help overcome their 5 percentage-point disadvantage to Republicans.

Wilcox noted that Arizona voters have elected Democrats to top offices in the past. Voters went for Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2006 and 2002, and former President Bill Clinton in 1996.

That’s true, Davis said, but there were important differences between the 2008 presidential race and Napolitano’s and Bill Clinton’s earlier races. “In neither of those cases was John McCain on the ballot,” Davis said.

Still, supporters for the Democratic presidential front-runners are undismayed.

Obama’s campaign opened facilities in Phoenix and Tucson months ago. Supporters organized a door-to-door campaign and phone banking this week to pitch Obama to voters as early ballots went in the mail.

Napolitano helped their cause by endorsing Obama on Friday.

Clinton’s campaign opened its Phoenix headquarters last weekend, and supporters were planning to have an on-site phone bank operational this weekend.

“We’re going to have probably 50 to 60 volunteers a night phoning,” Wilcox said.

The Clinton campaign will become more visible in other ways. Clinton supporters have been staging open parties to watch televised debates, and they are starting to follow up on an estimated 10,000 contacts by Arizona residents to Clinton’s national campaign Web site, Wilcox said.

Clinton’s victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, covered by Arizona media outlets, spurred new enthusiasm across the state, she said. “I did an interview on TV, and I’ve just had tons of calls from people who saw it and said, 'How do I plug in? How do I plug in?’” she said.

All campaign activity for Clinton and Obama before Arizona’s presidential preference election on Feb. 5 will have residual positive benefits for the eventual Democratic nominee in the general election in November, she said.

Meanwhile, McCain’s Arizona campaign operations have been scaled back compared with his unsuccessful 2000 presidential bid.

McCain has plenty of volunteers in Arizona, but no full-time staff. Davis and campaign co-leader Wes Gullet are part-time volunteers.

Furthermore, phone banking is conducted off-site because there is no campaign office for on-site phone banking.

McCain’s strategy for Arizona this year is far different than in 2000, Davis said.

In 2000, Arizona stood alone as an early primary state. This year, it’s one of 20 GOP contests set for Feb. 5, dubbed Super Duper Tuesday. Delegate-rich state primaries such as California, New Jersey and New York also are on that date, and those contests will demand McCain’s time, attention and financial resources, Davis said.

Furthermore, in 2000, Republican challenger George W. Bush spent millions of dollars in Arizona running against McCain. This year, no other Republican has presented such a serious challenge.