We reported earlier this week on the attack ad against incumbent Tucson City Council Democrats Nina Trasoff and Karin Uhlich, which was produced by the shadowy Tucson Vision Committee.

The Pima County Democratic Party released a statement yesterday complaining that the ad used a dirty word:

Why are Republicans so worried about clean streets after University of Arizona football games, but have no problem with profane TV commercials broadcast during those games?

An offensive, anti-family ad appeared on TV before and during Saturday's game and asked "What the hell is our City Council doing?" This kind of gutter politics does not belong in Tucson.

TW—which is no stranger to potty mouth—has to wonder what the hell is wrong with the wusses at the Pima County Democratic Party. Admittedly, we probably need sensitivity training, but to us, it seems like a chickenshit issue.

The Dems do go on to make a better point:

The ad unscrupulously pointed out that services like neighborhood street repairs have been cut because revenues dried up as recession swept the whole country. The City Council made deep and difficult cuts to protect money for public safety. However, the Republican candidates support Prop 200, which threatens to make those cuts to city services permanent [as well as raise taxes during the country's worst recession since the great depression].

It's valid to point out that the city will have to skimp on street repair and need to raise taxes if Prop 200 passes. But Democrats should be more careful about complaining about how raising taxes is such a bad thing, seeing as the City Council incumbents that they are trying to protect did raise taxes just a few months ago.

Glenn Beck discovers that if you throw a frog into boiling water, it doesn't jump out after all. It just boils.

What do you bet that a frog in water that is slowly heating up eventually jumps out when the water gets too hot?

We think it's all well and good to disprove cliches, but we'll like to let everyone know that no frogs were injured in the creation of Best of Tucson® 2009.

We'll be officially unveiling the Best of Tucson(R) this evening at Laffs Comedy Caffe, 2990 E. Broadway Blvd., during our Best of Tucson(R) '80s Karaoke Night Party. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and we'll start handing out copies of the issue and announcing winners a bit after 8 p.m. Admission (21 and older, please) is free! Come and celebrate and sing!

The issues will start hitting the streets tomorrow (or very, very late tonight, in some cases), and the BOT stuff will hit the Internet around midnight, if all goes according to plan.

Public Policy Polling gave us President Barack Obama's numbers in Arizona yesterday.

Today, the organization has some data on Arizona's potential governor's race next year—and the news is good for Terry Goddard:

If the election was today Democrats would reclaim the Governor's seat they gave up in Arizona when Janet Napolitano became Homeland Security Secretary. Attorney General and likely party nominee Terry Goddard leads incumbent Republican Jan Brewer and two other potential GOP rivals by margins ranging from 8 to 23 points.

The news is not so good for Gov. Jan Brewer:

Only 26% of Arizona voters approve of the job Brewer is doing with 43% expressing disapproval and 31% unsure. Her numbers are remarkably consistent along party lines with 28% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats, and 24% of independents giving her good marks. Of all the Governors and Senators PPP has polled on across the country so far in 2009 Brewer is the least popular within her own party, taking that mantle from Illinois Senator Roland Burris who is at just 29% with Democrats.

Goddard leads Brewer 46-36 in a head to head contest, winning 77% of the Democratic vote while holding her to 59% of the Republican vote and taking independents 47-35. He is actually slightly more popular with GOP voters than Brewer is, with 31% of them viewing him positively. Overall 44% of voters in the state have a favorable opinion of him to 22% unfavorable.

And it's really bad for Republican Fife Symington III, who resigned from the governor's office back in 1997 after being convicted on fraud counts that were later overturned on appeal. Fife has recently been making noises about a political comeback:

Fife Symington may have had the conviction that led to his resignation in 1997 thrown out by the courts, but he doesn't appear to have recovered in the court of public opinion. 54% of voters in the state have an unfavorable opinion of him with only 17% viewing him favorably. It's important to note though that 26% of Republicans like him, almost equal to Brewer. That could make a primary contest interesting.

He doesn't appear to be viable as a general election candidate, trailing Goddard 52-29. The Democrat wins independents by an unusual 31 point margin in that match, and wins 84% of his party vote while Symington gets just 51% of Republicans.

Hollywood to the rescue!

You think today's Congress is splintered on a partisan basis? It ain't nothing compared to the atmosphere before the Civil War. We were just talking with a friend about the time that Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina smashed a walking stick over the head of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts:

Here are some details of the event from About.com:

One southerner, Preston Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, was particularly incensed. Not only had the fiery Sumner ridiculed his home state, but Brooks was the nephew of Andrew Butler, one of Sumner's targets.

In the mind of Brooks, Sumner had violated some code of honor which should be avenged by fighting a duel. But Brooks felt that Sumner, by attacking Butler when he was home recuperating and not present in the Senate, had shown himself not to be a gentlemen deserving of the honor of dueling. Brooks thus reasoned that the proper response was for Sumner to be beaten, with a whip or a cane.

After trying to find Sumner outside the Capitol, Brooks entered the building and walked into the Senate chamber. Sumner sat at his desk, writing letters.

Brooks hesitated before approaching Sumner, as several women were present in the Senate gallery. After the women left, Brooks walked to Sumner’s desk, and reportedly said: “You have libeled my state and slandered my relation, who is aged and absent. And I feel it to be my duty to punish you.”

With that, Brooks struck the seated Sumner across the head with his heavy cane. Sumner, who was quite tall, could not get to his feet as his legs were trapped under his Senate desk, which was bolted to the floor. Brooks continued raining blows with the cane upon Sumner, who tried to fend them off with his arms. Sumner finally was able to break the desk free with his thighs, and staggered down the aisle of the Senate.

Brooks followed him, breaking the cane over Sumner’s head and

The New York Times opines on the wall between the U.S. and Mexico:

Auditors reported last week that the high-tech, 28-mile “virtual” section of the fence was running a mere seven years behind this month’s planned opening. Initially, designers talked of using off-the-shelf technology for the radar, cameras and other sensors, but problems cropped up. (Imagine, discovering that cameras tremble in rough weather.) “I’m trying to figure out why this is so difficult,” said Representative Michael McCaul of Texas. “These are basically cameras on a pole.”

The current cost estimate for the Buck Rogers barrier? $1.1 billion.

Investigators from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office report that the larger, actual fence — covering a 600 mile-plus stretch between San Diego and Brownsville, Tex. — cost $2.4 billion to build and will cost an extra $6.5 billion in upkeep across two decades.

Investigators also concluded that there’s no good way of gauging the effectiveness of the fence.

Public Policy Polling has a survey of Arizona's attitudes toward Barack Obama.

The numbers:

47% of voters there give Obama good marks for his work so far and an equal 47% express disapproval. His reviews are predictably polarized along party lines with 80% of Democrats but only 17% of Republicans approving of him. Independents split positively 50/42 in his direction.

An interesting takeaway:

Why isn't Arizona trending quite as blue as its neighbors? The first answer is that the Hispanic vote in the state is not as Democratic as it is in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and California. Exit polls showed Obama winning 56% of their votes in Arizona last year and his approval with them now is 58%. He wins 55-57% of their vote in the hypothetical contests against Romney, Huckabee, and Palin. By comparison Obama averaged winning 70% of the Hispanic vote in the surrounding states that he took last fall.

The other reason is quite simply that Arizona is more Republican than those states. There are 16% more Democrats than Republicans in New Mexico, 12% more in California, 8% more in Nevada, and Colorado is split evenly. Arizona had 7% more Republicans than Democrats on election day and we find that number at 5% today. That means Obama has to win by a lot with independents and get a fair amount of crossover votes. But right now the Republicans are actually winning over more Democrats than Obama is their voters, and his leads among independents are slim.

A new political ad is up on YouTube targeting Democratic Tucson City Council members Nina Trasoff and Karin Uhlich, who are both up for re-election in November.

We hear the ad also aired during the UA football game on Saturday, but we didn't see it ourselves. Anyone else out there catch it?

Here's a wrinkle: The ad says it was paid for by Lots of Fed-Up Tucsonans, but a visit to the Tucson City Clerk's Web site doesn't show any such committee. However, something called the Tucson Vision Committee was registered last week, on Thursday, Sept. 17. Could these visionaries be fed up?

Update: We're told by Adam Kinsey, executive director of the Pima County Democratic Party, that the ad carried a tag saying it was paid for the Tucson Vision Committee when it ran on TV during the Wildcat game on Saturday night.

The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has come out against the Public Safety First Initiative that will appear as Prop 200 on the city of Tucson's Nov. 3 ballot.

Two other local business heavyweights, the Tucson Association of Realtors and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, are funding the initiative.

In a press release, chamber officials say that its board "concluded that mandating staffing levels and response times the Charter of Tucson undermines the purpose of the Charter and the role of elected officials in governing. Without a funding source, Proposition 200 will place the city of Tucson under dire financial constraints at a time when it is least needed."

The release quotes Jack Camper, the chamber's president and CEO, as saying: "As a former volunteer firefighter and military policeman, public safety, particularly police and fire protection, is important to me. The chamber's position in no way speaks to the job our police and fire are doing. It simply goes to the root of unfunded mandates and poor public policy."