Investigative reporter John Dougherty wants to introduce himself to Southern Arizona voters. Meet him from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at Hotel Congress. Details here.

Democrat Rodney Glassman, who resigned from the Tucson City Council earlier this year to launch his Senate campaign, is opening his Tucson campaign offices, 2900 E. Broadway Blvd., from 1 to 4 p.m. this Saturday, June 3.

The press release promises:

Complimentary food and drinks will be provided. Children will have an opportunity for face painting and seniors will enjoy Glassman Bingo!

• Sen. Al Melvin (R)

Democrat Cheryl Cage, who lost to Melvin by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2008, is looking for a rematch and hopes that Melvin’s conservative voting record will help carry her to victory in one of Arizona’s few swing districts, which reaches from the Catalina Foothills to Pinal County’s Saddlebrooke. Republicans have a roughly seven percentage point lead in voter registration over Democrats in the district, but nearly 30 percent of voters in LD26 are registered Independent or other.

Republican Sen. Al Melvin's Web site here

Democrat Cheryl Cage's Web site here

House

Incumbent Rep. Vic Williams, who was first elected in 2008 and served

• Sen. Alvarez (D) Efrida

Senate
Democratic incumbent Sen. Manuel "Manny" Alvarez, a pistachio farmer from Efrida who has represented Legislative District 25 since winning a House seat in 2002, will fight to keep his seat in this humungous, five-county swing district stretching along the Arizona/Mexico border from east of Yuma to the southeast corner of the state. The multi-cultural district includes military families in Sierra Vista, the residents of border towns such as Nogales and Douglas, Marana suburbanites and Native American tribal members on the Tohono O’odham Nation.

About four out of 10 voters identify as Democrats and about three out of 10 identify as Republicans. But even though Dems have a registration edge, one of the district's two House seats is held by a Republican, which gives the GOP hope that they can knock out Alvarez and put another of the state's 30 Senate seats in the Republican column.

Two GOP candidates are vying for the chance to take on Alvarez: Gail Griffin, a real-estate agent and

I thought I'd share some photos I recently took at my favorite Tucson museum: The Pima Air and Space Museum. Sorry, art world, but in my opinion this place has you beat, hands-down. PASM has got it all: history, science, technology, a huge array of rare and amazingly surreal things to look at (and even touch), and volunteer docents for your questions. Their rates are reduced from June through October .. .go here for more info.

This week's cover story details all the candidates running for office in Arizona. While there aren't that many TV ads (yet) for races for state mine inspector, but we were able to find a couple of candidates who are already out there spreading their video messages across the Internets.

Instead of watching each one, we've stuck them together in a video that will waste no more than 1:23 minutes of your time.

The chefs at Kingfisher have embarked on their annual summer roadtrip. First stop: Right here in the Southwest. I popped in last night for the tortilla lasagna, which features roasted red peppers, poblanos, avocado, and herbed goat cheese layered in flour tortillas and topped with salsa fresca. It's a delight.

I'm eager to try the agave nectar glazed mixed grill tostado: Gulf shrimp, chorizo, chicken,
black beans, chopped lettuce, tomato, avocado crema and fresh salsa. How do you go wrong with that?

Check out the whole menu here.

The marquee race in Southern Arizona promises to be Congressional District 8, where Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has to overcome an anti-incumbent mood to hang onto her seat in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats, but Independents make up nearly three out of every 10 voters.

Five Republicans have lined up to challenge Giffords. Jonathan Paton, who gave up his seat in the state Senate to challenge Giffords, has emerged as the establishment candidate, picking up support—and maximum contributions—from local business leaders such as auto dealer Jim Click and legendary land speculator Don Diamond. In the first quarter of 2010, Paton was able to raise more than a half-million dollars from more than 1,000 donors.

He’ll need all that and more. In the same reporting period, Giffords reported raising nearly $490,000—and had nearly $2 million in the bank as of March 31.

Paton complains that Giffords has portrayed herself as a Blue Dog moderate, but voted for the health-care reform package, a cap-and-trade measure to reduce greenhouse emissions and the stimulus plan.

“I’m running for Congress because I don’t understand why we would support a government right now that is forcing you to pay payroll taxes for something that you will never actually see,” Paton recently told a group of College Republicans at the University of Arizona. “If you’re a young person right now, you’re never going to realize a lot of the things that you are paying for at the moment. Why would we want to be supporting an agenda with a president who is regulating the freedoms that your fathers or your grandfathers or your grandmothers fought for? … They’re stealing your birthright.”

A fierce defender of Arizona’s new immigration law, SB 1070, Paton vows that he would not

A medical marijuana initiative has made the 2010 ballot.

Evan Wyloge of the Arizona Capitol Times has the details here:

Supporters of the initiative said some Arizonans are suffering from medical conditions that are most effectively treated with marijuana, voters have shown they support medical marijuana, and the initiative heading to the ballot avoids mistakes made by some states with similar laws.

“This would provide relief for Arizona’s most vulnerable and ill residents,” said Andrew Myers, a spokesman for the medical marijuana campaign.

The initiative’s opponents, however, said legalizing medical marijuana would increase the use of illegal drugs and that smoking marijuana is no substitute for medicine.

Republican gubernatorial candidates are responding to the news that fellow GOP candidate John Munger is dropping out of the race because it appears that Gov. Jan Brewer and state Treasurer Dean Martin will have more than $2 million in Clean Elections funds to match the spending by Buz Mills, a shooting-range owner who has put more than $2 million into his campaign.

Martin was succinct and full of praise:

I have always admired John Munger for his steadfast commitment to our great state. John and I agree on so many issues; that’s why I applaud him for being willing to stand up for fiscal discipline, and for working so hard to get Arizona back on track. I know this decision must have been a difficult one, but I want to personally thank him for his service.

Meanwhile, Mills took an opportunity to complain about the Clean Elections program that is allowing his fellow candidates to spend as much as he is:

John Munger’s candidacy is a casualty of this state’s Clean Elections law which gives an unfair advantage to candidates who use government money to bankroll their campaigns. John and I were the only major candidates in this race

Janos Wilder, owner and operator of Janos and the J-BAR, has been blogging up a storm about designing his up-and-coming restaurant, Downtown Kitchen and Cocktails. The restaurant is expected to open in September in the former Barrio Food and Drink space at 135 S. Sixth Ave.

Check out Wilder's blog here.