Update, including an Interview with Donna Gratehouse

A quick update on a few things:

1. I'm backlogged with writing up some posts for the Precinct right now, what with working a full-time job and attending college part time at night, not to mention the other projects I have going on. My take-home Statistics final, for example, promises to require about 10 hours to complete this coming week. So much for my "spare time". My posting will be rather curtailed for the coming week, as a result.

2. Earlier this week, I was contacted by Le Templar, Senior Opinion Writer for the East Valley Tribune. Le asked if he could interview me on my recent report on Senator Huppenthal's Wikipedia-editing. I agreed. Look for Templar's article sometime in the coming week.

3. Tomorrow, I also hope to post Part Two of my interview with Chandler City Councilwoman Trinity Donovan. I plan to post a new installment about every week for the next month or so. Thanks, all, for your patience as I transcribe this lengthy but very interesting interview with Councilwoman Donovan.

4. Meanwhile, this morning I had a chance to sit down over coffee with recent Democratic candidate for Arizona State Senate (LD20) Donna Gratehouse. During our chat, I asked her a few questions about her post-election processing. Here are her responses (paraphrased):

Geo: What was the most positive aspect of the recent Senate campaign for you?

Donna: That's hard to pin down, but I'd say that it was meeting so many great people in our district. When you're campaigning, you have an entry into meeting everyone from neighbors to prominent community leaders. Being able to connect with them all was really neat.

In politics, some folks have a tendency to try to exploit our differences. But I saw a lot of similarities in the people I met. And the similarities shared by folks in our district are pretty great.

Geo: What would you say was the most challenging or difficult aspect of the campaign?

Donna: The research! When you're running for office, you have to be knowledgeable about all of the issues that face the state. You have to consult a lot of different sources, assimilate vast amounts of information and know enough about a lot of different things. I did a lot of checking and cross-checking of facts to make sure the studies I was quoting and the statistics I was using were solid instead of just depending on one study that supported my views.

When I wasn't out campaigning, meeting with people and hearing their concerns, I spent several hours a day with my nose in a book, reading a newspaper or on the Internet to make sure I was knowledgeable about the issues facing our state.

Geo: Senator Huppenthal is a seven-term incumbent with a 14% Republican voter registration advantage in this district. Yet you came within 4% of beating him. That indicates significant resonance with your campaign and a fair degree of crossover in support of you. To what would you attribute your strong showing?

Donna: First, the strong work by my fantastic campaign team. We had a great team and we ran a good race. Second, a lot of people in District 20 who know Huppenthal's record are very unhappy with him. Especially educators and parents of children in the school system.

Third, there was a strong degree of dissatisfaction with the Republican legislature and the way they had opposed and obstructed a very popular Governor Napolitano. And finally, the national level dissatisfaction with Republicans and crossover support to favor popular Democratic candidates like Harry Mitchell probably had an effect in D20, as well.

Geo: That leads me to the $64,000 question: are you thinking of running again?

Donna: I'm definitely considering it. If I do, I'll get an earlier start on it next elecion cycle. We did a great job this time, but it would have helped had we started five months earlier. I'd hope to have an exploratory committee by the end of 2007 if it looked feasible.

5. Speaking of Donna, later this evening, at the District 20 Democrats meeting, new district officers were elected for the coming two years. Donna Gratehouse was elected unanimously in her bid for the 1st Vice Chair position. So she'll be a key part of the district's leadership team helping develop and implement strategy over the coming months and years.

The D20 Democrats also have a new District Chair. Frieda Pollack was unanimously elected as the new DC for District 20. The assembly also expressed its thanks to former District Chair Michael Williams for his service to the district for the past several years.

It will be interesting to see what the coming year brings for our district as these folks get settled into their new roles.