Local comic author and Tucson Weekly Talking Comics contributor Eric Esquivel is in Phoenix this weekend with artist Jason Pedersen for the Phoenix Comicon and he's capturing some of the festival's moments for The Range.

• Eric Esquivel

Watch May 25, 2012 on PBS. See more from Arizona Illustrated.

Last night's Political Roundtable was another lively discussion of the Congressional District 8 special election between Republican Jesse Kelly and Democrat Ron Barber, the latest news on the presidential race in Arizona and the U.S. Senate race for the retiring Jon Kyl's seat, the battle between the Rio Nuevo Board and the city of Tucson, and Ken Bennett's flirtation with the birthers. Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers, Tucson Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries and former state lawmaker Pete Hershberger hash out the week gone by.

Royal Headache were supposed to come to Phoenix next month, but sadly, they had some trouble with the State Department, so the surprisingly-soulful Australian garage rock band were forced to postpone their entire US tour. Here's hoping when they manage to get over here that we can get a Tucson date as well (or instead).

You gotta hand it to Republican state Sen. Frank Antenori.

The latest scheme cooked up by the hard-charging right-winger may allow him to keep his options open in two separate elections this November, without committing to either.

Here’s how the trick works. This is dense, so stick with us.

Antenori announced earlier in the year that he was running in the special election for Congressional District 8 to replace Gabby Giffords. At the time, he said that no matter what happens, he was also “100 percent” in the race for the new Congressional District 2 in November.

But when he lost the special election primary to Republican Jesse Kelly, and Kelly started doing well in polls against his Democratic opponent Ron Barber, Antenori wasn't quite “100 percent” anymore. He said if Kelly won the election, he wouldn’t challenge him.

He also started collecting signatures to run for reelection to the state Senate, although (thanks to redistricting) he's now in a district that leans Democrat and cover much of central Tucson.

Several years back, Tucsonans lost the Triple-A Sidewinders to the lovely city of Reno, Nev.

However, due to several stadium kerfuffles in Portland, Ore., and Escondido, Calif., baseball-loving Tucsonans got a reprieve, in the form of the Triple-A Tucson Padres, who opened up shop last year at Kino Stadium.

And how did Tucson and the Padres do, attendance-wise? Terribly: Last year, the Padres were dead-last in Pacific Coast League attendance, averaging only 3,410 fans per game. The second-worst team in the 16-team PCL, attendance-wise—the Las Vegas 51s—averaged a thousand fans more per game than the Padres.

But that was year one, and the Padres were a last-minute thing, etc. So this year, attendance should be better. Right?

As of now, the Padres are averaging a horrendous 2,691 fans per game, again dead-last in the PCL by a huge margin.

Folks: If you give a rats' patootie about baseball in this town, make a point to go to at least one game on the Padres' next homestand. Mark your calendars: The Padres will be in town for a four-game series against the aforementioned 51s next Tuesday, May 29, through Friday, June 1.

Go. Support the Padres!

KVOA Channel 4 has come to terms with Sean Mooney for the position of weekend anchor/reporter.

Mooney knows Tucson extremely well. He has worked in the market in a number of sports related roles, including as a reporter for Fox Sports Arizona. But Mooney also has a plethora of large market experience, including recent stints with WBZ TV in Boston and WWOR TV in New York City.

Mooney starts June 4.

Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable: We break down the CD8 race as Election Day approaches, talk about the latest poll numbers in the presidential race and the U.S. Senate race in Arizona, check in the latest fight between the city of Tucson and Rio Nuevo and—if there's time—hit up a few more topics. Tune in to see Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers, Tucson Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries and former state lawmaker Pete Hershberger take a look back at the week in politics at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 6.

The state of Arizona has some pretty cool shit on their website, where medical marijuana is concerned. They do a pretty good job of updating it, so it's a pretty good place to go for MMJ info. To wit:

Dispensary Operator Application Reports—If you go here, you get the latest numbers on where (and how many) people are applying to open dispensaries. It's a list, so it's a bit cumbersome. As of Friday morning, 25 applications were in for Tucson area dispensaries, with Marana, part of the northwest side and the far west side unrepresented. At least three people applied in three different Community HealthAnalysis Areas—central, east and southwest. Today is the last day for potential dispensary operators to get their paperwork in for administrative checks and rechecks and official stamps and approvals. They could open soon after Aug. 7.

Map Your Dispensary Location—This server-based game allows you to click and type to find your dispensary location. Loads of fun, but the in-game graphics and cut scenes suck, um, mostly because it's not a real game. It's a Department of Health Services data map. But it's game-like. And fun.

Patient reports—And of course you can go here for the latest patient reports. This one tells you how many people in your neighborhood have applied for MMJ cards. Not literally. Its by CHAA.

The Rules - This link takes you to the rules and statutes covering the state MMJ program. It's very official, and I use it often as a highly trusted source for information (if you trust the government, of course).

So, now you know how to do my job. Good luck out there.

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez sent out a bulletin letting us know that at the end of the day yesterday, more than 71,478 early ballots—or more than 38 percent of the 187,614 ballots that were mailed out—had been returned in the Congressional District 8 special election between Democrat Ron Barber and Republican Jesse Kelly.

At this rate, much of the voting in the June 12 special election could be wrapped up well before Election Day.

Rodriguez also provided a breakdown of the ballots that have been processed so far:

• 17,645 Republican
• 17,250 Democrat
• 60 Green
• 160 Libertarian
• 10,295 Other (aka independent)

ETA: An earlier version of this post had an incorrect number for the Democratic ballot returns.