Tucson Weekly Endorses Richard Grayson in Arizona Green Party Presidential Preference Primary on February 28

We are happy and grateful that Tucson Weekly has endorsed us in next Tuesday's Arizona Green Party presidential preference primary. Here is today's editorial:

Severely Awesome

We endorse Republican Sarah Gonzales and Green Richard Grayson in next week's presidential primary

by The Weekly Editorial Board


We've had many people ask us over the last few months whether Project White House 2012 is serious, or just a big joke.

We find ourselves asking: Is Newt Gingrich's moon base a big joke? Is Ron Paul serious when he says that medical care for seniors was better before Medicare? Is Rick Santorum serious when he says that abortion doctors belong behind bars? Is Mitt Romney serious when he says his sons are serving the country by helping him get elected rather than enlisting in the military?

In light of all that, we believe the Project White House candidates are just as serious about running the country as the Republican Party's frontrunners.

In case you have not been following Project White House: We invited all of the candidates on the Feb. 28 Arizona presidential-primary ballot to participate in a Reality Journalism competition in order to win the Tucson Weekly's presidential endorsement.

More than half of the Republicans on the ballot—12 out of 23—signed up, as did half of the Green Party candidates.

Over the last several weeks, we have presented them with a variety of challenges, from making Facebook pages for their campaigns to developing hit ads against their high-profile opponents. The competition culminated last weekend with a pair of presidential debates televised by our friends at Access Tucson. (If you missed 'em, they've been posted on The Range so you can size up the candidates yourselves.)

Now, with the Feb. 28 presidential primary just days away, the time has come for us to make our endorsements.

We must say: We're impressed with this year's crop of dark-horse Republican candidates. We think that Charles Skelley is right when he says that too many manufacturing jobs have left the United States. Al "Dick" Perry is right when he says that corporations have too much power and demonstrate too little civic responsibility. Peter "Simon" Bollander is right when he says we have too many lawyers in politics. Jim Terr is right when he says a cascade of money has corrupted our election process. Donald Benjamin is right when he says grocery stores are too confusing. And Kip Dean is right when he says the front-runners in the GOP primary are just plain unlikable.

That brings us to a fundamental problem with the GOP: It's in desperate need of a makeover. These old white dudes running for president—Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul—just don't seem to be in touch with the modern world or remotely prepared to deal with its increasingly complex challenges.

And that's why we're endorsing Sarah Gonzales, the only Latina on the GOP primary ballot in Arizona.

In the Project White House televised debates, Gonzales described herself as "severely awesome"—and we're inclined to agree. We don't know that we agree with her stances on everything, but much of what she calls for sounds good to us.

We should spend less on overseas wars. We should pay teachers more. We should have more arts classes and physical education in our schools. We should crack down on white-collar crime. We should reconsider how many people we lock away, and stop the growth of a private-prison industry that turns a profit on putting people behind bars. We should invest more in solar energy. We should have more poetry in our lives.

And we agree with what Gonzales says about her platform: It makes a lot more sense than 9-9-9.

The Tucson Weekly endorses Sarah Gonzales in the 2012 Arizona Republican primary.

The Greens

Three of the six Green Party candidates on the Arizona ballot are participating in Project White House: Richard Grayson, Gary Swing and Michael Oatman.

All of the Greens have done a lot to express their plans through Project White House, but we have been most impressed with Richard Grayson, including his plan to deport Republicans back to the 18th century, where they could be more comfortable with their tricorner hats and other Tea Party garb, and his demand that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu be nicer to his ex-boyfriends. Few of the Project White House candidates have done a better job of responding to the issues of the day.

East Valley Tribune Covers Campaign of Green Party Presidential Candidate Richard Grayson in Arizona Primary

The East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ) has covered the campaign of Green Party presidential candidate Richard Grayson in Arizona's February 28 Green Party presidential preference primary:

Three East Valley residents on presidential preference ballot

Posted: Sunday, January 22, 2012 12:41 pm | Updated: 9:18 am, Mon Jan 23, 2012.

By Garin Groff, Tribune

If Arizona voters aren't convinced Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or other nationally-known figures are presidential material, there's no shortage of Arizona-grown candidates to consider.

Nearly two dozen obscure candidates will appear on Arizona's Feb. 28 presidential preference ballot, including three East Valley residents.

About half the lesser-known candidates are from out of state, with the rest from across Arizona.

One thing all candidates have in common: They got on the ballot with ease.

All they had to do was fill out a two-page form with the Arizona Secretary of State, swear they met Constitutional requirements for the office and have the paperwork notarized. There was no fee to get on the ballot.

The 23 Republican candidates include Cesar Cisneros of Mesa and Wayne Arnett of Tempe, who join national figures Romney, Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Richard Grayson of Apache Junction is one of six Green Party candidates on Arizona's ballot.

Cisneros spoke earnestly about his bid for commander-in-chief. The trucking company owner and big rig driver said he's talked to thousands of people in numerous states since he began campaigning in 2010.

Cisneros, 62, is a Mormon with a wife and seven adult children who has never run for office. He is disappointed none of the other candidates have called for religion to play a greater role in public life.

"In order for us to prosper as a nation and to really be protected, we need the teachings of almighty God," Cisneros said.

Many of his views are standard for a Republican. He's for a strong national defense, low taxes and the Keystone gas pipeline. However, he wants to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants without felony records. After that, he'd seal the border.

Cisneros has never spoken to a big crowd and has only been able to get to other states because of his trucking job, he said. He's raised a few thousand dollars.

Americans of ordinary means are perhaps more qualified for the White House than wealthy candidates, he said.

"If they have these millions and billions of dollars, believe me, they're out of touch with the American people," he said. "How can they be in touch?"

He isn't included in the CNN Republican debate at the Mesa Arts Center on Feb. 22, but asked that voters call CNN to urge his inclusion. Cisneros said his desire to run comes from the heart but he acknowledges his odds of winning are slim.

"My slogan is: Miracles happen," he said.

Arnett didn't return a phone call left at his Chandler law firm.

Grayson did speak, though he said that "any publicity will probably just lose me votes."

The 60-year-old writer figures this is his fourth time on a ballot in Florida and Arizona since 1982. He first ran for a town council seat in a small Florida community.

"The people were starting to outnumber the horses, and I was mad about that," Grayson said. "My proposal was to give horses the right to vote, and I got 25 percent of the vote."

He ran for the 6th Congressional District in 2010, which is represented by Republican Jeff Flake. The Green Party sued to kick him off the ballot, but he prevailed. Just before election day, Grayson blogged that he didn't care if voters chose him. He added that most voters in the district "are ignorant morons."

Grayson said he doesn't tell people he's running, doesn't campaign and doesn't care if he gets any votes. He figures he'll get a handful of votes.

"Green Party primaries are pretty rare and Arizona, to its credit, has the easiest ballot requirements for presidential primaries," Grayson said. "For someone like me, it was irresistible. I mean, how can you just let it go by?"

Given the potential voice a presidential candidate could use, does Grayson at least have a message?

"No," he said. "I think more people should run. Or maybe Arizona should change its law or change its requirements so you have to be an actual, serious candidate."

Contact writer: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com