“After President Obama personally recruited Richard Carmona to run for the Senate, it should surprise no one that the liberal Washington establishment would eventually clear the field for their anointed candidate and loyal ally.  

“Today’s news only serves as a reminder to Arizonans that a vote for Carmona this November is a vote for President Obama’s liberal, big government agenda of higher taxes, reckless Washington spending and job-killing healthcare takeovers.  

“We look forward to hearing when President Obama and Richard Carmona will be campaigning side-by-side in Arizona in the days ahead.”

BACKGROUND …

• “On September 23, President Obama called Richard Carmona to encourage him to run,” said one Democratic strategist.  (Alexander Burns, Obama courts Ariz. Senate candidate, may contest state ‘heavily’, Politico, 10/06/11)

• Carmona is one of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s favorite candidates and was personally courted by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to get into the race.  (David Catanese, Bivens clears the way for Carmona, Politico, 3/27/2012)

• Obama personally called Carmona and asked him to run, and Carmona told The Hill in February that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.) were also among those who reached out to court him. (Josh Lederman, Democrat Bivens drops out of Arizona Senate primary, clearing way for Carmona, The Hill, 3/27/2010)

Current Obama Job Approval In Arizona: 41% approve, 51% disapprove (TPM PollTracker, 3/27/2012)

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Notably, Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid who hails from neighboring Nevada, said the entire Senate Democratic caucus supports the President’s decision.

“This latest mandate stemming from Obama’s job-killing healthcare law is a troubling overreach into the private healthcare decisions of Arizonans and yet while countless of legislators have stepped forward and voiced their opinion, Richard Carmona and Don Bivens have remained silent,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jahan Wilcox said today.  “No one in Arizona should be forced to choose between violating their religious beliefs and facing government penalties, yet under the health care bill which both Bivens and Carmona support, that’s what they are now facing”

The post As Healthcare Overreach Spreads, Liberal Democrats Richard Carmona & Don Bivens Remain Silent appeared first on NRSC - National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Barely had former two-time Arizona Democrat Party Chairman Don Bivens announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, when his party’s professional political class in Washington – including no less than President Barack Obama himself – dismissed him off-hand. 

On October 6^th, barely a week after Bivens’ announcement, Politico lifted the curtain on the backroom deal-making taking place among Washington Democrats, and reported that President Obama had personally phoned former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who was appointed to that office by President George W. Bush, urging him to run for the U.S. Senate in Arizona.  

And now, just a few weeks later, National Journal’s Reid Wilson reports today that “Democrats believe they have a shot in Arizona, too, but only if they get the right candidate.”  In other words, in a state where they had previously vowed to be competitive, President Obama and the national Democrats are continuing to dismiss the Senate candidacy of their former two-time party Chairman Don Bivens, and instead are hoping to convince a George W. Bush-appointee to enter the race for their party’s nomination… 

“In a state where they’d previously vowed to be competitive, it speaks volumes of the Democrats’ long odds that President Obama and the Democrat establishment in Washington continue to publicly snub their own former state party chairman in the hopes of convincing a George W. Bush-appointee to run for their party’s Senate nomination in Arizona,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh said today.  

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