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National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) released the following statement regarding the results of the special election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District:

“Special elections are unique, and the tragic turn of events that led to this one are no exception. No one wanted this election to happen, or to see Gabrielle Giffords step down from Congress, but Jesse ran a campaign focused on pro-growth policies that will lead to less government and a strong and vibrant economy.

“It is clear that Ron Barber knew that voters in this district would never accept his true positions on President Obama’s agenda which have made a bad economy worse in this state. That explains why he did his best to conceal his support for so much of that agenda. Barber will not have that advantage in November when he will be on the ballot with President Obama, nor will any of his House Democrat colleagues.”

Jim Nintzel reports Barber is about to speak at his gathering at the Marriott University Park. Details to follow.

At the Viscount Suite gathering for Jesse Kelly, Congressional District 1 candidate Jonathan Paton—who was upset by Kelly in the Congressional District 8 primary two years ago—showed up to offer Kelly his support.

"It's disappointing, but the numbers still aren't clear. Of course, I want Jesse to win. That's why I'm here tonight," Paton told Mari Herreras.

She went up to Kelly when he completed several TV news interviews. He turned to his wife, and as he held her arm, he asked her, "Are you ready princess?"

Herreras interrupted to ask for comment regarding the race, whether if he plans to run again. Kelly said he couldn't comment. "I'm making my way out the room."

Meanwhile a variety of Republicans also showed up at Ron Barber's gathering at the Marriott University Park. However, these Republicans were supporting Barber, not Kelly.

“The citizens of District 8 recognized that Ron was a practical guy who would work across party lines to get stuff done, and Kelly was an ideological bomb-thrower,” former state lawmaker Pete Hershberger told Jim Nintzel.

Another Republican who supported Barber, Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, was blunt about the quality—or lack thereof—of the GOP candidate.

“I think people saw Ron as a more-serious candidate,” Kozachik said. “And Jesse was not fully baked.”

The party for Jesse Kelly's election at the Viscount Suite started off as an upbeat gathering, and for the most part remained so as more and more numbers came in showing that Democrat Ron Barber had a healthy lead.

When Mari Herreras spoke to several Kelly supporters waiting for more results, they were hesitant to declare that Barber was indeed the victor.

Joan Gay, a volunteer for Walt Setzer's campaign for Pima County sheriff, said she would wait until all the precincts were accounted for—although she admitted some disappointment.

Does she want Kelly to run again the next round if he doesn't win? Well, maybe, she said. "At that point, it's a new ballgame," Gay said. "I know I'd like that candidate to not be a career politician."

Gay's friend Charles Easter, also a Setzer volunteer, said the city of Tucson's votes are always the last to be counted. He'll wait until those numbers come in before he counts Kelly out. "But, yes, we don't want someone like Barber who has had a career working in government. Kelly hasn't. He's run before, but he's never worked in politics."

Carolyn Setzer, Walt Setzer's wife, admitted concern.

"There were an awful lot of candidates at the beginning of this race, and I don't think that helped," Setzer said. "As far as a final outcome, you never know. But I can't help but think that a lot of those (Republican) votes that went over to Barber were sympathy votes."

Jim Nintzel says the atmosphere is festive at the Marriott University Park, where Dems had gathered to watch the Congressional District 8 results come in.

Ron Barber currently holds an 8-point lead over Republican Jesse Kelly.

Jeff Rogers, the chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, was close to declaring victory.

"I’d like to think it was our massive get-out-the-vote effort, but I looked at the numbers in this district, and demographically, it’s the 11th-oldest in the nation, and I think it just sunk in that this guy Jesse Kelly meant what he was saying about Social Security and Medicare," he said.

Jim Woodbrey, a Democratic activist in Green Valley, said: "I think that voters realized that Ron thinks about things. Jesse didn’t give the sense that he thinks about things."

Sometime after 8 p.m., the first batch of results in the Congressional District 8 special election will be released.

It's gonna be a big batch, as those first results will include the huge number of mailed ballots that have already been returned.

If the contest between Ron Barber and Jesse Kelly is a route, as predicted by a Public Policy Polling poll released yesterday, that batch could, in effect, let us know the winner.

However, if the race is close (and most of us think it will be), then we may not know the winner for a while.

In any case, stay tuned to TucsonWeekly.com. Jim Nintzel is at the Barber/Democrats party at the University Marriott, and Mari Herreras is at Jesse Kelly's party at the Viscount Suites. Jimmy Boegle and Dan Gibson are standing by to do Web updates.

As found on Tony Jones' blog on the website Patheos, Christian publisher Zondervan might be stretching their need to find new ways to sell the same book a bit:

If you love puppies, you will love this Bible! Inside you will find 12 color pages of adorable puppy photos with inspirational thoughts that will encourage you day after day. The Playful Puppies Bible is just the right size to take along wherever you go.

Features include:
* Presentation page for gift giving
* Ribbon marker
* Words of Christ in red
* 12 pages of adorable puppy photos, Scripture references, and inspirational thoughts
* The entire Bible in the New International Version (NIV)

While you're waiting for election results, you can enjoy a collection of Jesse Kelly's greatest hits, courtesy of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Polls are open until 7 p.m. Find yours here. Results should start coming in shortly after 8 p.m. and we'll let you know what's what.

The Cup Café, the nice little restaurant with the penny-tiled floor inside the Hotel Congress, has launched a series of beer-tastings to help Tucson make it through the scorching summer.

The tastings take place from 5 to 6 p.m. on selected Saturdays through August. This week's event features beers by Dave’s Electric Brewery, Prescott Brewing Company and Mogollon Brewing Company. Next week there will be brews from San Tan Brewery and Grand Canyon Brewery to sample.

The events are $10, which includes a bit of light fare. If you want something a bit more substantial, the Cup Café is also holding four course beer-paired dinners on the last Saturday of each month. Check in over here for more information.

Music site The Quietus usually asks musicians to talk about their thirteen favorite albums, but for the Howe Gelb edition, they mix it up a bit with the Giant (Giant) Sand frontman discussing his favorite albums between ages 12 and 16, including this take on the Uriah Heap album Demons & Wizards:

Then it might be Uriah Heep, Demons and Wizards. I didn't have an older brother at all, let alone one in college to turn me on to cool records. I stumbled my way through and absorbed certain records I probably had no business in buying, and just lived with them and eventually something about them would settle in. Some of then didn't stick but I remember playing that one quite a bit.

Who was the keyboard player? Ken Hensley, right. Yeah, the way he was putting the songs together I found intriguing, 'Cos y'see at that point I didn't play guitar, and I was trying to figure out what to do with the piano and how to make it make sense in rock & roll. I was intrigued by bands that had a lot of keyboard action. I didn't really care what the music was about.

Then I find this Uriah Heep band and this one guy is playing all these kinds of keyboards, not quite Rick Wakeman, but that kind of thing that was going on with a lot of bands at the time where they had a bunch of different keyboards, and he's in this little corral on stage playing these different keyboards. I thought 'What's going on there, that's interesting, that guy is applying some kind of piano thing to rock & roll', so that's why I stopped at Uriah Heep for a little while.