We'd like to give a big salute to the Phoenix Mars lander, which landed on the Red Planet's arctic plains on Memorial Day weekend. Earlier today, the Phoenix team announced that it hadn't been in touch with the spacecraft since Sunday, Nov. 2.

Peter Smith of the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab said heading up the science end of the Phoenix mission was "the thrill of my life."

Smith, who said there's still plenty of data to analyze, regrets that the lander didn't last a few more weeks so he could have gotten footage of snow collecting on the ground around the lander.

NASA will continue to look for a signal, but it's likely that dust storms, shortened days and extreme cold have finished off the plucky Phoenix.

Here's a release from NASA:

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments.

Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more clouds and colder temperatures as the northern Mars summer approaches autumn. The mission exceeded its planned operational life of three months to conduct and return science data.

The project team will be listening carefully during the next few weeks to hear if Phoenix revives and phones home. However, engineers now believe that is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions on Mars. While the spacecraft's work has ended, the analysis of data from the instruments is in its earliest stages.

"Phoenix has given us some surprises, and I'm confident we will be pulling more gems from this trove of data for years to come," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Launched Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther north than any previous spacecraft to land on the Martian surface. The lander dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted the Red Planet's soil. Among early results, it verified the presence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, which NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter first detected remotely in 2002. Phoenix's cameras also returned more than 25,000 pictures from sweeping vistas to near the atomic level using the first atomic force microscope ever used outside Earth.

"Phoenix not only met the tremendous challenge of landing safely, it accomplished scientific investigations on 149 of its 152 Martian days as a result of dedicated work by a talented team," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Phoenix's preliminary science accomplishments advance the goal of studying whether the Martian arctic environment has ever been favorable for microbes. Additional findings include documenting a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found by earlier Mars missions; finding small concentrations of salts that could be nutrients for life; discovering perchlorate salt, which has implications for ice and soil properties; and finding calcium carbonate, a marker of effects of liquid water.

Phoenix findings also support the goal of learning the history of water on Mars. These findings include excavating soil above the ice table, revealing at least two distinct types of ice deposits; observing snow descending from clouds; providing a mission-long weather record, with data on temperature, pressure, humidity and wind; observations of haze, clouds, frost and whirlwinds; and coordinating with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform simultaneous ground and orbital observations of Martian weather.

"Phoenix provided an important step to spur the hope that we can show Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Phoenix was supported by orbiting NASA spacecraft providing communications relay while producing their own fascinating science. With the upcoming launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, the Mars Program never sleeps."

The University of Arizona leads the Phoenix mission with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Denver. International contributions came from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; the Finnish Meteorological Institute; and Imperial College of London.

For additional information about Phoenix mission findings, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

I recently saw a "premiere" of this video from Charo (don't ask).

My question to you: Is this just bad, or is it so bad that it's good?

I hope it's the later, because Charo (yes, THAT Charo) rocks. But, um, yikes.

OK, even though my fans were clearly loving it, I had to take down the commentary on the election from last night's Arizona Illustrated because it kept playing whenever I came to the blog and I couldn't figure out how to make that stop. But if you're dying to watch it, click here.

On tonight's Arizona Illustrated, I'm doing post-election analysis with anchor Bill Buckmaster, Ann Brown of the morning daily's editorial page and Steve Emerine, the old pro who's penning a column for Inside Tucson Business these days. We also talk with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, so tune in!

Also, you should really check out this political face-off segment from Arizona Illustrated earlier this week. Republican John Munger is in rare form as he explains how the country needs to come together, but the awful Democrats won't let that happen. Bonus points for managing to divert attention to the Bush-Gore legal fight of 2000! If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was taking lessons from Stephen Colbert.

Since I'm taking away my video commentary, I'll leave you with this British journalist who manages to tell his bosses to go fuck themselves after getting a wee bit tipsy on Election Day. It's spectacular.

We're tired from being up late covering the election, so I'll be brief: The new issue is online (with all of that aforementioned election coverage), so enjoy! Feel free to comment on its contents here.

The payday-loan industry may be on its way out of business in Arizona. Gay marriage is even more illegal in the state, and once again, voters have rejected the idea of giving lawmakers a raise.

With 99.1 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, here are the latest results.

The payday-loan industry suffered a stunning defeat after 59.5 percent of voters rejected Proposition 200, the Payday Loan Reform Act. Prop 200, which was funded with more than $14 million from the payday-loan industry, would have allowed the industry to continue to operate in the state past 2010, the year in which the law that allowed them to set up shop will expire.

Business owners did not get a break from voters after the stunning defeat of Proposition 202. The Stop Illegal Hiring Act, supported by a variety of business interests, would have granted Arizona companies additional defenses if caught with illegal workers on their payroll. However, with the defeat—59.1 percent of voters were saying no—the state’s employer-sanctions law, said by many to be the toughest in the nation, will remain on the books.

Voters also ensured that they will still be able to increase taxes at the ballot box by overwhelmingly rejecting Proposition 105, aka Majority Rules, which would have required that any statewide initiative that hiked taxes or fees be approved by a majority of all registered voters, not just the ones who cast ballots in the election. A whopping 65.7 percent of voters rejected the measure.

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, a vocal opponent of Prop 105, expressed satisfaction at the measure’s defeat.

“Prop 105 was designed to not allow any proposition to pass,” he said.

Gay marriage became even more illegal in Arizona after 56.5 percent of the voters supported Proposition 102, which will amend the Arizona Constitution to limit marriage to being between only one man and one woman. Arizonans rejected a broader law that would have also banned civil unions and domestic partnerships by a narrow margin two years ago.

Beth Walkup, the wife of the mayor, and many other Southern Arizona politicos spoke out against the anti-gay-marriage measure, to no avail.

“She campaigned on the basis that voters already said no,” Walkup said about his wife’s efforts against Prop 102.

Outgoing Senate President Tim Bee, who put what would become Prop 102 before the state Senate in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session after waffling on the matter for months, defended the initiative.

“I was told by my constituents that it was their No. 1 issue that they wanted me to address, and I did. I brought it up for them. … Clearly, it’s different from what was brought up two years ago (and that’s why it passed).”

State lawmakers will continue to be a bargain for taxpayers after 64.5 percent of voters rejected Proposition 300, which would have increased annual legislative salaries from $24,000 to $30,000.

Proposition 101, aka the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, remained too close to call as of Wednesday morning, when voters were rejecting it by just more than 2,100 votes. If it were to make up the difference and somehow pass, Prop 101 would amend the state Constitution to ban the state from interfering with health-insurance options.

Arizonans will never be required to pay a sales tax on the purchase of a home after voters resoundingly approved Proposition 100, aka Protect Our Homes, which was placed on the ballot by the Arizona Association of Realtors to block the state from charging a real-estate transfer tax, a revenue mechanism in some states. Some 76.9 percent of voters added this amendment to the state Constitution.

However, buyers of new homes will not be getting a longer guarantee on their houses after 77.9 percent of voters rejected Proposition 201. Homebuilders successfully argued that the proposition would increase lawsuits and raise home prices.

Voters in the Tucson Unified School District were fairly split on the idea of allowing the district to raise property taxes to spend more money on programs—but Wednesday morning, Proposition 403 appeared to be headed for defeat. With 97.2 percent of TUSD precincts reporting, Prop 403 had 48.36 percent of the vote (66,797 votes), while no had 51.64 percent (71,337 votes).

Also close but apparently winding up in the “win” column was Prop 401, which will create new dietary and care restrictions for dogs within the city limits of South Tucson. The South Tucson Dog Protection Initiative was aimed at improving the lives of dogs that race at Tucson Greyhound Park; yes had 402 votes, and no had 373 with all South Tucson precincts counted.

This report was prepared by Jimmy Boegle, Mari Herreras and Jim Nintzel, with additional reporting from Claire Conrad, Megan Neighbor and Hank Stephenson.

(Photo of Victoria Ochoa and Manuel Sanchez reacting to the Obama win by Kelly Rashka)

A packed room of Democrats let out a roar as the first election results showed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on her way to re-election over Republican Tim Bee on Tuesday night.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Jennifer Powers-Murphy, who worked phone banks for the freshman Democrat. “The solar thing is a really big deal to me. The only thing John McCain has ever said about solar is that we should all wear sunscreen and a hat.”

Hundreds of Democrats, packed into a ballroom at the Marriott University Park, had been in a feverish mood all evening as state after state was called for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

“Hallelujah goes right there,” said an ebullient Anita Smith-Etheridge as NBC News called Ohio for Barack Obama. “It’s way cool.”

Paul Eckerstrom, a former chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, said “this could be a realignment election.” But, he added, “Obama and the Democrats have to govern in a practical way.”

At the Manning House, where local Republicans gathered, the crowd was much more subdued.

The party started at 7 p.m. with just a handful of GOPers milling about and looking at the widescreen TV set tuned to Fox. Only a few politicians wandered around shaking hands, including Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, Congressional District 8 candidate Tim Bee, and defeated Legislative District 27 Senate candidate Bob Westerman.

As the evening progressed, another look around the room revealed the presence of perennial CD 7 candidate/total loon Joe Sweeney, standing against the wall alone and drinking a tall glass of orange juice.

Eventually, Marilyn Zerull (who would go on to finish third in the LD 26 House race), Juan Ciscomani (defeated in the LD 29 House race) and Jonathan Paton (the Senator-elect from LD 30) joined the party.

During John McCain’s concession speech from Phoenix, which started about 9:20 p.m.--20 minutes after national news organizations deemed Barack Obama the president-elect--the room was silent and still, with occasional shouts blaming the liberal press (including some participants walking toward the press area to give the assembled reporters a good stare-down) and a whisper from losing LD 27 House candidate J.D. Duke Schechter to a fellow Republican that tomorrow, the “flag flies at half-mast.”

“We may not be in power, but our day will come again,” said Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, who ran unopposed.

The closest thing to excitement at the GOP gathering came during Bee’s speech—which was neither a concession speech nor a victory address. Bee stood before the room with his family and thanked his supporters.

“On behalf of the Bee family, who has also given a tremendous amount of support, we’re hoping and praying for a victory,” Bee said, walking to his wife and giving her a hug.

The only other moment of significant applause came when results of Proposition 102, which will put a ban on gay marriage in the Arizona Constitution, were being announced.

However, the news for Republicans was otherwise bleak. To nobody’s surprise, Sweeney said he plans to run for Congress again in two years in an effort to, in his words, get those “pachucos out of South Tucson.”

Back at the Marriott, a packed house celebrated as Giffords took the stage and started addressing the exited gathering—but was forced to stop speaking when President-elect Obama started giving his victory speech. Numerous tears of joy were spilled as Obama spoke in Chicago.

Giffords echoed Obama’s “change” theme in her remarks.

“Two years ago, Southern Arizona said to Washington: Change can’t wait,” she said, referring to her election to Congress two years ago. “Tonight, the rest of America said they can’t wait for change, either.”

She praised Obama as a leader who can bring the fractured country together.

“Generations will look back on tonight, and they will thank you,” she told the crowd. “They will thank you for your audacity and support.”

While Giffords at first did not declare victory over Bee, just before 11 p.m., she said she’d be heading to Washington, D.C., for a second term. However, Bee refused to concede—even though he was losing, with 42.2 percent of the vote to Giffords’ 55.3 percent, at 11 p.m. (Wednesday morning, with 98.6 percents of precincts reporting, Bee was still down, 54.7 percent to 42.9 percent.)

With Democrat Harry Mitchell headed to re-election in District 5, and Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick headed to victory over Republican Sydney Hay, Democrats took an apparent a five-seat majority in the eight-person congressional delegation. Democrats Raúl Grijalva and Ed Pastor won re-election, as did Republicans John Shadegg and Jeff Flake.

Many legislative races remained too close to call late Tuesday night, but cleared up Wednesday morning. In the hotly contested Legislative District 26 Senate contest, Republican Al Melvin led Democrat Cheryl Cage by less than 300 votes, but with many ballots left to count. However, by Wednesday morning, Melvin had emerged the apparent victor, by 1,127 votes.

In the House race in District 26, Democrat Nancy Young Wright emerged the apparent victor Wednesday morning, with 25.9 percent of the vote. Republican Vic Williams also had 25.9 percent (but 50 fewer votes) to nab the second seat. Republican Marilyn Zerull (25.2 percent) and Democrat Don Jorgensen (23 percent) were defeated.

“I’m feeling cautiously optimistic,” said Williams Tuesday night.

In the District 30 House race, Republicans Frank Antenori and David Gowan beat Democrat Andrea Dalessandro, whose underdog bid enjoyed substantial financial support from the Arizona Democratic Party’s surrogates.

At the Manning House, Antenori went off on one of his trademark rants when asked for comment.

“We are going to get this budget done in 65 days. We are going to push hard for that,” he said. “We are not going to muck things or muddle things up until we get this budget done.

“It’s kind of funny that the governor and her union thugs came after me with everything they had, and they still couldn’t beat me. I was outspent 8-to-1. They took things out of my Political Courage Test, which, by the way, Ms. Dalessandro … didn’t take, so she’s a coward. They were basing that off of two boxes that I did not check. Therefore, they implied that I would cut off a woman diagnosed with cancer from health-care access, which is such bullshit. There’s no other word to describe it than bullshit.”

Republican Rep. Jonathan Paton easily dispatched Democratic challenger Georgette Valle to advance to the District 30 Senate seat being vacated by Bee.

Democrats were hoping to pick up a House seat in Legislative District 25 after the retirement of Republican Jennifer Burns, but that didn’t happen. Democrat Pat Fleming led with 28.7 percent of the vote Wednesday morning (with 99.1 percent of precincts reporting), with Republican David Stevens (25.7 percent) in second place. Democrat Richard Boyer was in third with 24.4 percent, and Timathy Davies was bringing up the rear with 21.2 percent.

Democrat Manny Alvarez narrowly won his Senate bid against Republican Mary Ann Black.

Democrats Matt Heinz and Daniel Patterson were handily defeating Republicans Pat Kilburn and Juan Ciscomani in the District 29 House race, while Democrat Linda Lopez was unopposed in her Senate bid.

Democrats Phil Lopes and Olivia Cajero-Bedford were dominating the District 27 House race, while Jorge Luis Garcia was thumping Republican Bob Westerman in the Senate race by a 2-to-1 margin.

In the only contested race for the Pima County Board of Supervisors, Democratic incumbent Sharon Bronson was defeating Republican Barney Brenner with 59 percent of the vote.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik was easily dispatching his GOP opponent, Harry Shaw, with 64.6 percent of the vote.

Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, who had 53.1 percent of the vote, was heading to victory over Republican Brad Roach and Green Claudia Ellquist.

In the extremely tight statewide race for three Arizona Corporation Commission seats, Democrats Paul Newman and Sandra Kennedy (both 18.1 percent) were leading with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting. Republican Bob Stump (16.2 percent) was edging Democrat Sam George (16.2 percent) for third place by just more than 1,300 votes (out of more than 4.6 million counted so far), followed by Republicans Barry Wong (15.7 percent) and Marian McClure (15.5 percent).

This report was prepared by Jimmy Boegle, Mari Herreras and Jim Nintzel, with additional reporting from Claire Conrad, Megan Neighbor and Hank Stephenson.

Obama is president-elect.

Observations:

-- Wow, Corp Commission is close, as are the LD26 and LD30 races.

-- Pima County Elections is being extremely slow, as expected.

-- "Majority Rules," Payday Loan industry and legislators' raises going down in flames. TUSD budget override in big trouble.

Here are the latest results from Arizona races:

President of the United States of America (Arizona) -- 85.0 percent reporting

Barack Obama (D): 788,440 (44.8 percent)

John McCain (R): 952,138 (54.1 percent)

Congressional District 8 -- 56.5 percent reporting

Gabrielle Giffords (D): 120,071 (55.3 percent)

Tim Bee (R): 91,674 (42.2 percent)

Congressional District 7--78.2 percent reporting

*Raul Grijalva (D): 87,849 (63.1 percent)

Joe Sweeney (R): 45,922 (33.0 percent)

Legislative District 25--77.1 percent reporting

House

Pat Fleming (D): 23,012 (28.4 percent)

Richard Boyer (D): 19,546 (24.1 percent)

David Stevens (R): 21,097 (26.1 percent)

Timathy Davies (R): 17,296 (21.4 percent)

Legislative District 26--38.9 percent reporting

Senate

Cheryl Cage (D): 29,624 (50.0 percent)

Al Melvin (R): 29,643 (50.0 percent)

House

Nancy Young Wright (D): 28,650 (26.2 percent)

Don Jorgensen (D): 25,612 (23.4 percent)

Vic Williams (R): 27,809 (25.4 percent)

Marilyn Zerull (R): 27,284 (24.9 percent)

Legislative District 27-71.0 percent reporting

Senate

Jorge Luis Garcia (D): 25,801 (66.9 percent)

Bob Westerman (R): 12,793 (33.1 percent)

House

Phil Lopes (D): 22,378 (34.8 percent)

Olivia Cajero Bedford (D): 23,742 (36.9 percent)

Kent Solberg (G): 3,212 (5 percent)

J.D. Schechter (R): 10,627 (16.5 percent)

Legislative District 29 - 55.9 percent reporting

House

Matt Heinz (D): 16,207 (33.5 percent)

Daniel Patterson (D): 16,785 (34.6 percent)

Pat Kilburn (R): 8,568 (17.7 percent)

Juan Ciscomani (R): 6,889 (14.2 percent)

Legislative District 30-53.9 percent reporting

Senate

Georgette Valle (D): 29,759 (41.1 percent)

Jonathan Paton (R): 42,597 (58.9 percent)

House

Andrea Dalessandro (D): 33,985 (31.7 percent)

Frank Antenori (R): 36,015 (33.6 percent)

David Gowan (R): 37,147 (34.7 percent)

Arizona Corporation Commission -- 91.1 percent reporting

Paul Newman (D): 813,587 (18.1 percent)

Sandra Kennedy (D): 814,338 (18.1 percent)

Sam George (D): 729,561 (16.2 percent)

Barry Wong (R): 711,332 (15.8 percent)

Bob Stump (R): 733,814 (16.3 percent)

Marian McClure (R): 701,722 (15.6 percent)

Pima County Supervisor District 3--44.8 percent reporting + early votes

Sharon Bronson (D): 22,814 (59.4 percent)

Barney Brenner (R): 15,547 (40.5 percent)

Pima County Attorney--52.5 percent reporting + early ballots

Barbara LaWall (D): 125,136 (54.5 percent)

Brad Roach (R): 89,903 (39.2 percent)

Claudia Ellquist (G): 14,270 (6.2 percent)

Pima County Sheriff--52.5 percent + early ballots

Clarence Dupnik (D): 153,061 (66.1 percent)

Harry Shaw (R): 78,008 (33.7 percent)

Proposition 100 - Protect Our Homes -- 90.7 percent reporting

Yes: 1,304,426 (77.0 percent)

No: 389,500 (23.0 percent)

Proposition 101 - Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act -- 90.7 percent reporting

Yes: 830,731 (49.9 percent)

No: 833,019 (50.1 percent)

Proposition 102 - Marriage -- 90.7 percent reporting

Yes: 998,429 (56.4 percent)

No: 771,350 (43.6 percent)

Proposition 105 - Majority Rules -- 90.7 percent reporting

Yes: 571,500 (34.2 percent)

No: 1,099,766 (65.8 percent)

Proposition 200 - Payday Loan Reform Act -- 90.9 percent reporting

Yes: 682,579 (40.5 percent)

No: 1,003,577 (59.5 percent)

Proposition 201 - Homeowners' Bill of Rights--90.9 percent reporting

Yes: 368,716 (21.9 percent)

No: 1,311,630 (78.1 percent)

Proposition 202 - Stop Illegal Hiring --90.9 percent reporting

Yes: 696,029 (40.7 percent)

No: 1,012,343 (59.3 percent)

Proposition 300 - State Legislators Salaries -- 91.1 percent reporting

Yes: 608,899 (35.5 percent)

No: 1,106,689 (64.5 percent)

Proposition 401 - South Tucson Dog Protection Initiative --50 percent + early votes

Yes: 235 (56.4 percent)

No: 182 (43.7 percent)

Proposition 403 - TUSD Budget Override--67 percent + early votes

Yes: 55,961 (47.7 percent)

No: 61,437 (52.3 percent)

Hey, everyone: Make sure to check out blog.tucsonweekly.com and Scramblewatch.com tonight for up-to-the-minute election results and coverage. Jim, Mari, Kelly Rashka and the Weekly's fabulous interns will be fanning out all over Tucson to bring you the latest information, and Adam Kurtz and I will be manning Weekly World Central to put it all together.

Look for it!

If you're looking for the Tucson Weekly endorsements, check out ScrambleWatch.com! You'll find late-breaking election news there, too.