gabrielle giffords

Breaking: Gabby Giffords resigning from Congress.

Congresswoman Giffords, of course, was gravely wounded in 2011 in a murderous attack by a madman that left six dead and thirteen injured. Since then, Giffords has made a remarkable recovery; unfortunately, it apparently has not been enough of a recovery, so she’s resigning in order to concentrate on her health. The video below of the announcement both shows the extent of her injuries, and the impressive extent to which she’s already surmounted them: I don’t know if Congresswoman Giffords will ever heal fully, but she’s already doing much better than I privately expected.

More here (via Hot Air Headlines): as this is a House seat, the Governor of Arizona will schedule a special election for the remainder of Giffords’ term. Obviously, our best wishes and prayers for Congresswoman Giffords’ continued recovery.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

#rsrh Primary challenger to Gabriel Giffords (D, AZ)?

Via Drudge, this is a somewhat… surprising reaction to local Democrat Anthony Prowell’s attempts to run in the Democrat primary against Rep. Giffords:

Initially looking to run for office as a Democrat, Prowell has been subjected to the ire of local party officials and everyday citizens aghast that he would challenge Giffords, who has only cast one congressional vote since a near-fatal shooting in January.

The few local Democratic Party officials he has spoken with on the phone are “livid” and have “flat out said, ‘we already have a congresswoman and I will not support you in any means whatsoever’” before hanging up, Prowell said.

Continue reading #rsrh Primary challenger to Gabriel Giffords (D, AZ)?

#rsrh I agree, Jim Geraghty, this is creepy.

This is creepy as all hell.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords is still in the hospital, but some of her most ardent backers are so enamored of the idea of her running for the Senate that they describe the inevitable campaign commercials: the deep-voiced narrator recounting what happened to her, the images of her wounded, then recovering and speaking into the camera alongside her astronaut husband to call on Arizonans to unite.

(Via, obviously, Jim Geraghty) Don’t get me wrong: it’s not creepy for Rep. Giffords’ staff to be setting the stage for a possible Senate run in her absence. Even if she hadn’t been shot, Rep. Giffords would be on the short list* to run for Senator Kyl’s seat anyway: so you cannot fairly say that her staff is taking undue advantage of the Tuscon shootings. But I think that the New York Times should have expanded a little on those unnamed individuals who are currently fantasizing about the possible campaign commercials. The lack of information there is what’s causing the creepiness, in my opinion: I’d like to know whether this is just the usual fetid Internet swamp bilge, or whether it’s more… entrenched…

Moe Lane

*If not the actual front-runner. Even before the assassination attempt, Rep. Giffords was easily the most prominent Arizona Democrat in the public eye after Janet Napolitano, who at this point would probably not win a Senate race in 2012.

Jesse Kelly (R CAND, AZ-08) ahead in primary two ways.

How do we know this? First, because there’s a new local poll out that shows Jesse Kelly leading the primary with 35% of the vote.

Second, and more importantly, because one of his opponents put together a hit site. Link’s via Instapundit – I’m not going to give said site traffic – and it’s quite the little collection of innuendos and assertions-stated-as-fact, in its way. If you’re wondering whether its real or not, then let me note this: it’s attempting to be an anonymous site which was fairly self-evidently contracted out to an outside website designer. If it was real, then everything that I know about Tea Partiers tells me that the people behind it wouldn’t be trying to hide. That particular sub-demographic of the American people is not shy about being forthright and open about their opinions. Continue reading Jesse Kelly (R CAND, AZ-08) ahead in primary two ways.

If we take back 45 seats, we make Biden wear a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.

Via @baseballcrank, promises, promises:

Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.

Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.

“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware.

Giffords, Giffords, Giffords: where have we heard that name before? Right: she was one of the Democrats who ran and hid from her constituents during the August town halls. As I recall, she was so scared of them that she only felt safe on a military base – which was an impressive display of cowardice, even for a Blue-in-Red Democratic Member of Congress.

Yes, definitely, she needs to be one of the Thirty-Five. I’m thinking that it’s going to be Jesse Kelly for this one: his website is here and you can contribute here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Meet Jesse Kelly (R Cand, AZ-08).

Website for Jesse Kelly here: contribute here.

AZ-08 is a R+4 district: its current holder (Gabrielle Giffords) picked up the seat as part of the 2006 shellacking. In time-honored Blue Dog fashion, she’s handling the health care rationing controversy by hiding from it: Giffords abruptly canceled two Thursday meetings by ‘combining’ them into a RSVP-only whatever-it-was at a military base. Fairly typical behavior, in other words.

Enter Jesse Kelly: Marine, businessman, and more than happy to go to the canceled town hall and talk, same time, same place. How did he do? Judge for yourself: Continue reading Meet Jesse Kelly (R Cand, AZ-08).