Ruth McClung; Winning Alternative to Grijalva

Arizonans in District 7 are finding a respectable alternative to Raul Grijalva in Ruth McClung. largely written off by both Tea Party and Republican fundraisers alike, Ruth has built an impressive grass roots campaign by . . . get this, talking to people. Young, inexperienced, under financed, McClung has turned her upstart campaign into a viable threat to dethroning the Community Organizer Grijalva.
Jim Kelly of the Tucson Citizen, had this to say about her in his endorsement:

My knowledge of Ruth McClung began a week after Mother’s Day in 2009. I had met her at an LD 29 District and precinct committee meeting when she announced she was running for the US Congress in CD-7. For the next three months, I bullied her, berated her lack of political polish and derided her fundraising efforts. I was an absolute jerk to her and she remained unflappable. I am surprised that her Mother and Father, Gini and Tom Crawford, didn’t hit me. (Well Gini did once but I deserved it). Her husband Michael gritted his teeth when I would walk in the room but they all stayed the course.  I never thought her supporters would stand by her and yet they did. Bruce Webber is her most loyal volunteer and has walked more neighborhoods and put up more signs for her than any other precinct committeeman in her district. Her campaign has taken a much decentralized approach, letting the independent volunteer campaign managers in the counties of her district run their own organizations. Ruth has held car washes and bake sales to finance her campaign. When she first started doing radio interviews she was downright shy and I kept thinking, “Raul Grijalva has nothing to worry about.” But she kept campaigning. And she got better and better. She has stayed on message; she has articulated her core issues of Defense, Border Security, Free Market Economies, Science and Technology, and Healthcare. She truly is an elephant with momentum.
 She is also a rocket scientist and knows what she is talking about when she says climate change is a result of natural occurrences based on sun activity, orbits, spin and axis wobbles, ocean currents, polar activity and topographical reflection. It is not human caused. She said “Poverty and corruption has more detrimental effect on the environment than the use of fossil fuels. I want independence from foreign oil and I believe we can safely develop nuclear power within Arizona. I will vote against any scheme designed to tax carbon emissions just to subsidize an unmarketable an uneconomical alternative energy. No Cap and Trade.I am disgusted by my opponent’s lack of concern for the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Instead of watering holes for smugglers, he should have been empowering our Border Patrol and law enforcement to stop the drug cartels and terrorists from taking over the park and denying access to American citizens. What is he thinking? Is this his way of letting Aztlan get a foothold on sovereign American soil?”

Ruth McClung June 16, 2010

But does McClung know what she is talking about in regards to the economy?

Her economic views are free market based and follow a Milton Friedman model of spending based on a percentage of GDP. ”We have a budget at home; We have everything prioritized from the mortgage down to whether or not I buy new shoes. We pay the priorities first, when we run out of money, we stop spending till we have new revenue. The only time we should go over budget in this country is for catastrophes, civil emergencies and self defense. I see the Border as a National Security and self defense issue and should be paid for in the Defense Authorization and Appropriations.”
“We have got to let the market rule with regards to the economy. No one is too big to fail and the bailouts shouldn’t have happened. But we are stuck with it for the moment and now it’s all about us holding the spenders of the bailouts accountable for results. Yuma has 20% unemployment, Pima County over 10%. We can do better in removing the roadblocks that stifle entrepreneurship. Whether it is environmental regulations or various departmental policies, I will work to remove those roadblocks.”

McClung still does not have the attention of the national Republican party. She is ignored by pollsters and Republican fundraisers. She is an inexperienced candidate in what is considered a Democratic stronghold. But remember, Grijalva's first win in District 7 was by less than 5% over a Yuma conservative who was unknown in Tucson. McClung has campaigned heavily in both Tucson and the more conservative Yuma and has the yard signs and billboards to show it. And this is not 2000.  It is also my belief that there are no Democratic strongholds in this election. It is in these "strongholds" that viable, conservative candidates, ignored by the media and party, might just turn the tide of Obamanation. Jim Kelly thinks McClung is one of those candidates. Grijalva just might also. A final word from Kelly:

Ruth McClung is the frontrunner in this GOP primary. Faith and family are very important to Ruth. She is a Christian and believes that faith and reason go together.  Every time Raul Grijalva opens his mouth on national television, her fundraising increases. Keep talking MEChA boy. His boycott of Arizona will destroy his candidacy and he knows it. His hubris has finally caught up with him. A woman of unshakeable faith in the values of church, family, and country, the core moral compass of the people of Southern Arizona, will prevail in November. I asked her what kind of cactus she would be. She said she would be a prickly pear, the purple one with the yellow flowers. Perfect.