Curtain Lifted On Backroom Deal-Making In Arizona Senate Race

Just last week, Don Bivens, the former two-time chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, officially announced that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona.  For seven months, the Democrats have been struggling to field a candidate in that race which they had previously vowed to be competitive in.

With much fanfare and brand-new campaign video, Bivens said:

• I’m not a politician. I’ve spent my entire career in the private sector, working with businesses large and small.  I’m running for the United States Senate because we can’t keep sending the same folks back to Washington and expecting a different result.”

Unfortunately for Mr. Bivens, however, it seems the professional political class in Washington, and most notably, President Obama, are dismissing his candidacy as it’s barely begun.

Politico today lifted the curtain on the backroom deal-making taking place among Democrats in Washington and reports that no less than President Obama himself has personally called former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who was appointed to that office by President George W. Bush, and urged him to run for Senate in Arizona.

It’s unclear if the President reached Carmona at the ultra-exclusive Canyon Ranch spa in Tucson where he currently serves at its Vice-Chairman, but what is clear is that President Obama and national Democrats clearly aren’t happy with their former State Party Chair’s candidacy.  As Politico reports:

• “On September 23, President Obama called Richard Carmona to encourage him to run,” said one Democratic strategist. “The president said Carmona would certainly shake up the race.”

“It’s a remarkable development to hear that President Obama and national Democrats have so quickly dismissed the candidacy of a longtime party leader like Don Bivins in favor of someone who George W. Bush appointed to office, but politics makes for strange bedfellows. We look forward to hearing from Arizona Democrats like Don Bivins regarding the President’s recruitment efforts,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh said today.