Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Glassman Staying Put—For Now

Posted By on Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 11:49 AM

On the same day that state Sen. Jonathan Paton resigned, Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman, who is exploring a run for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s seat this year, chimed in with a press release of his own, vowing to stay on the Tucson City Council at least until April so he can work on the city of Tucson’s budget woes.

Glassman tells The Range he sent out the bulletin because he “wanted reassure my constituents that my No. 1 priority is and will continue to be advocating for their priorities during these important upcoming budget discussions.”

But we suspect Glassman, the only Democrat who is talking about a real challenge to McCain, will still make the jump to the campaign trail later this year, especially now that J.D. Hayworth has challenged McCain from the right. Hell, if J.D. pulls off an upset victory, Glassman might actually have a shot at winning in November.

(BTW: I'll be joining Bill Buckmaster over at Arizona Illustrated to interview Hayworth next Tuesday, March 2. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 6.)

If Glassman does challenge McCain, he’ll have to give up his City Council seat under Arizona’s resign-to-run law. That means his council colleagues will get to name his replacement.

So far, the only person showing much interest in the seat is Paul Cunningham, son of former state lawmaker and Napolitano budget maven George Cunningham.

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