Once again we turn our attention to the senate races across the country that are the tightest races. In Arizona we check in with the race between Jeff Flake (R) and Richard Carmona (D). Within the last week a new poll was released that showed Richard Carmona with a 4 point lead with likely voters over Jeff Flake. Now these results are still within the percentage of error, and therefore, we can still call this a toss-up race.
This has been a surprisingly tough fight so far for Jeff Flake, as Arizona often votes Republican. Now the race has turned rather negative. Just last week Representative Flake put out a new TV ad charging his challenger with anger problems relating to women. Mr. Carmona has issued a statement calling this accusation “a work of fiction”. He claims the woman featured in the ad was a partisan Republican who was caught lying on her resume. Carmona then released an ad in retaliation against these attacks and said Flake “should be ashamed” for these statements. In this closely fought race, this is not the only way the competitors are going about bringing in votes.
Last Wednesday former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Carmona at an outdoor rally on the Arizona State University campus. This event also featured a musical performance by Jimmy Eat World and former Phoenix Suns basketball player and current mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson. After the celebrity studded event Carmona took the stage followed by a speech by Clinton that lasted 30 minutes.
The same night of that rousing campaign appearance, the two candidates faced off in their first debate in Phoenix. At the debate Carmona said he would not have supported ObamaCare the way it was pushed through by the President. Although he supports the ideas in the Affordable Care Act, he did not support it in that form. Carmona did his best in this debate to distance himself from President Obama and the sitting Democrats. On the other hand, Representative Flake did his best to point out the similarities between the President and his competitor. During the debate Flake even brought up the fact that Carmona was leaving the debate to attend the rally with Bill Clinton. This further connected Carmona to the establishment Democrats and made it hard for him to combat the idea that he lines up with the Dems on almost every issue.
With more debates to come over the next couple weeks, and more ad buys sure to arise, this race is too close to call. Now that there are only 3 weeks until Election Day, make sure to stay tuned here for the latest news on this race.
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