A trio of optimistic political challengers - two Democrats and a Libertarian - sense a change in the mood of East Valley voters.

It’s already an uphill battle for Libertarian and Green party candidates in Arizona, but no matter what they have a place on the ballot.

Our company’s founder, and the descendants who continue to lead Freedom Communications Inc., come at the world with an idea: to advance human liberty.

Oct. 24, 2004

TUCSON – Gazing up at the mosaic dome of the old Pima County Courthouse, Paul Eckerstrom sees a potential capitol building for a 51st state: Baja Arizona.

TUCSON – Gazing up at the mosaic dome of the old Pima County Courthouse, Paul Eckerstrom sees a potential capitol building for a 51st state: Baja Arizona.

Arizona's voter registration numbers are down heading into the state's primary election next week.

Arizona now has 3,138,327 registered voters, a decrease of 27,231 since the last report in October, according to the latest numbers released by Secretary of State Ken Bennett.

Oct. 24, 2004

It ended soon after it began, this revolution. Not with a bang, or even a whimper. The soldiers, unsure of their cause, simply left the battlefield. As the sun set on the retreating army, the sun also set on the vision of a shining city on a hill, which remains darkened to this day.

WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.

There has been much discussion over the years on immigration enforcement along our border with Mexico. The costs of enforcement are astronomical. According to estimates from the Department of Homeland Security, the costs per mile of fencing ranges from $3.8 million to $10 million per mile due to terrain. Putting more Border Patrol agents and utilizing National Guard resources is costly as well. The area that has been neglected the most, and costs the least, is immigration policy reform.

I find it quite shameful that the Arizona Tea Party would hold a rally at our state Capitol and call it “.223 Second Amendment Rally.” To have a rally named after one of the guns used in the Sandy Hook Massacre is shameful.

The still small but dangerous war that broke out between Georgia and Russia is the culmination of decades of mutual hostility fed by centuries of acrimonious history remembered conveniently by partisans on all sides. Also in play were recent developments that made the Caucasus region something of a tinderbox waiting for a spark. Just who lit that spark is still not entirely clear.

Today we take a moment to remember the founder of our company, R.C. Hoiles, who bought the then-Santa Ana Register in 1935 and subsequently founded a company he named Freedom Newspapers. It grew into Irvine-based Freedom Communications, today the nation’s 12th largest media company, with operations on the Internet, in broadcast, magazines and newspapers.

We have now witnessed the national outrage when the referees of a professional football game decided the contest in favor of the wrong team. What will our nation do if the wave of voter suppression laws in Republican-controlled state governments actually keeps millions of voters from choosing their leaders? If the Romney/Ryan ticket actually won the popular vote in states that kept opposition ballots from being cast, will the thin fabric that holds this country together withstand the strain?

Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, has plenty of political courage in breaking with Gov. Janet Napolitano and the rest of his party to support a permanent repeal of a statewide property tax that finally passed the state Senate Tuesday.

"The ‘Octomom' is asking the state of California to bail her out because of her irresponsible behavior. Kind of like the state of California is doing to the rest of the United States."

One of the most unique aspects of American-style democracy has been our rigid commitment to a two-party election system. Unlike our European forebearers and their multi-party coalition governments, Americans prefer to view the political world as black-or-white, as us vs. them, or perhaps more subtly, as two sides of the same coin.

Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuck, guest commentary

The 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign has been the most volatile and least predictable campaign in my lifetime. In spite of this, I see several potential scenarios in the early states, all subject to change at any moment.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed an executive order requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to make sure their employees can legally work in the U.S.

U.S. Rep. John Shadegg and Democratic challenger Herb Paine will tape a televised debate tonight for airing later this week.

OUR VIEW: The United States is witnessing an unusual outburst of philosophical activism this August as Americans by hundreds of thousands are loudly (and sometimes rudely) protesting efforts of President Barack Obama and Democrats to expand government control of private health care.