Update on Arizona Republican Party state chair race

Continuing my quest to give Arizona’s Republican Party equal time, here’s an update on my story from yesterday on the race for Republican Party state chair.

You’ll remember I complained yesterday that the Republican Party’s website does not list the candidates, I couldn’t find them in a Google search, and so far, they haven’t responded to my e-mail request for information. (I’m not holding my breath.)

In today’s Arizona Daily Star there was a tiny story on page 7 with the names of two  candidates.

New GOP leadership
The Pima County candidate for the state GOP chairmanship has backed out of the race to replace outgoing chairman Randy Pullen.

Bruce Ash, a Republican national committeeman from Tucson, said he has decided to focus on personal health issues. “I need to focus on my own health and not get overloaded,” Ash said.

That leaves in the running Ron Carmichael of Phoenix, who has the support of Sens. McCain and Jon Kyl, and Marty Hermanson of Pinal County, who is carrying the support of that county’s Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Tom Morrissey, a tea party leader active in a Phoenix legislative district, also is interested in the job. Morrissey, in a vision statement, turned his attention to city elections a few months away.

“In 2010, the wind was at our backs and the Democrats didn’t see us coming. We can’t count on the general political atmosphere to be so favorable two years from now,” he wrote, saying it will take a statewide effort to achieve greater success.

In his interview yesterday on the John C. Scott Show (The JOLT, 1331 am), Ash listed other contenders, but they are not in the Star article.

Ironically, this Republican match-up kinda looks like the Democratic match-up, since in each race there is one candidate backed by the party machine vs one outsider.