If you're just tuning in to Election 2010, we've got all the highlights you'll need to understand how to vote. We'll be moving this post to the top of the blog on a regular basis to as our service to the magnificence of democracy.

If you want to just cut to the chase and see which candidate we like and how we'd vote on the propositions, you can find our endorsements here.

Arizona Illustrated's CD8 Debate

You can read all about the Congressional District 8 race between Democrat Gabrielle Giffords and Republican Jesse Kelly here. Here's more about Jesse Kelly's fight to win the GOP primary earlier this year. Here's a look at where Kelly stands on the gulf oil spill; here are his thoughts on Don't Ask/Don't Tell; here's a look at his thoughts about putting National Guard troops on the border. Here's a story that explains how Kelly's family construction business earns tens of millions of dollars working on public-works projects funded with federal dollars. Here's a piece that looks at his relationship with John McCain and J.D. Hayworth. Also: A live blog of an early debate here and a long Q&A with Jesse Kelly here.

If you want to see specific spots in the Arizona Illustrated debate, click here.

The Arizona Illustrated CD7 Debate

Mari Herreras looked at the Congressional District 7 race between Congressman Raul Grijalva and Republican challenger Ruth McClung here.

We didn't write much about Democrat Rodney Glassman's efforts to unseat Sen. John McCain, but we did want to share Rodney's music video for those who haven't seen it yet.

We interviewed David Nolan, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, here.

Here's a look at the governor's race between Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard.

Hank Stephenson brought you a number of legislative stories, including a look here at the swing Legislative District 26, where Republican freshman Sen. Al Melvin is facing Democratic re-challenger Cheryl Cage. In the House Democratic incumbent Rep. Nancy Young Wright is fighting to hang on against the Republican pair of Rep. Vic Williams and Terry Proud.

Cage and Melvin also made their cases on Arizona Illustrated.

Read here. about Democrat Sen. Manuel Alvarez, who is facing former state Representative Gail Griffin in the rural Legislative District 25, a swing district which includes

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I might be reaching my breaking point on enjoying zombies, although the quality of AMC's "The Walking Dead" on Sunday night will make a big difference whether I write off the undead for a few years.

However, I will always welcome Oregon Trail parodies, so the zombie theme of new Flash game "Organ Trail" is still livable. Drive a station wagon across and try to keep your party alive. The novelty wears off relatively quickly, but if you're looking to kill a little time at work today, this should work.

Independent candidate Ted Downing, who is angling for a Senate seat in midtown Tucson's Legislative District 28, is mad because Democrat Paula Aboud used a picture of a city fire truck in her campaign materials. He demanded the city do something about and city officials asked Aboud to remove the image, which she did. But Downing wants more, leading to an amusing exchange with City Attorney Mike Rankin:

ted@votedowning.com"
10/29/2010 12:46 PM

I would like to see some request or statement in writing, as befits a legal matter. A violation should be stated even if you feel there is no remedy otherwise it has the appearance that violations from office holders are treated differently from other citizens violations who get written notifications from the city. This is a State Senate race, after all, and the misuse is yielding her votes at our expense.

Is that ok?

Ted Downing

* * *

On Oct 29, 2010, at 2:03 PM, "Mike Rankin" wrote:

I understand your request, but to the extent that this is a legal matter, it does not involve, as far as I can see, any question of a violation by the political office holder. The statute in question that led to my request for the removal of the pictures is ARS 9-500.14, which prohibits a city or town, or its employees, from using its personnel, equipment or other resources from influencing the outcomes of elections. In this instance, based on the information you brought forward, I asked the Aboud camp to remove the pictures from the website in order to avoid any appearance that the city is using its resources to influence an election. They complied. The only appropriate written statement from me to Sen. Aboud would be a letter thanking her for removing the pictures per my request. If you feel that there

Halloween falling on a Sunday has a weird effect on the weekend ahead of it...when are adults supposed to go out and wear our Jersey Shore costumes? Friday and have barely any time to get dressed? Saturday? Sunday and then suffer at work the next day? Decisions, decisions. If you are going out tonight, Club Congress' Nightmare on Congress seems promising, with a lineup heavy on inventive local indie rock acts. $12 at the door for a giant list of bands isn't a bad deal, either. Two videos from groups on the bill, to give you a taste of what the evening will hold.

Gabriel Sullivan and Taraf de Tucson:

The Generationals:

We hear release of the long-awaited Rio Nuevo audit from the Arizona Auditor General is due out today.

The Arizona Republic notes that Republican Jesse Kelly, who is seeking to unseat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is making up stories about Mexicans being bused into Arizona to vote:

In an interview Wednesday on The Mark Levin Show, Kelly told the conservative talk show host, “There’s actually rumors people have video of them busing people across from our Southern border. They literally bus people across from Mexico to have them vote at the polls on Election Day. Give them a meal, and then bus them back. It’s been done in the past, so we’re really fighting against that down here.”

However, Matthew Benson, communications director for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, said, “We’ve seen no evidence of that allegation.”

He said state law requires Arizona that voters show identification on Election Day.

“It’s almost become a kind of urban legend in Arizona,” Benson said of the allegation that Mexicans are being brought into the United States to vote. “In terms of specific instances, we haven’t seen it.”

Read the whole thing here.

Local author William Ascarza's new book, Tucson Mountains, has been published by Arcadia Publishing, and is part of the Images of America series ($21.99, 127 pages).

Summary (from publisher):

The Tucson Mountains are located several miles west of downtown Tucson. For thousands of years, this mountain range has been inhabited, explored, and traveled by Native Americans who settled near the Santa Cruz River. Homesteaders, prospectors, and ranchers arrived in the late 19th century, drawn by the area's close proximity to Tucson and the Southern Pacific Railroad, as well as the promise of land and mineral wealth. During the past 100 years, conservation efforts to preserve and enhance the community's understanding of this geologic treasure have led to the establishment of museums and parks, including Tucson Mountain Park, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and Saguaro National Park West. Old Tucson Studios has used the surrounding Tucson Mountains as a movie backdrop for more than 70 years. The White Stallion Ranch and the J. W. Marriot at Starr Pass make the Tucson Mountains a popular destination for visitors who want to experience the rugged beauty and character of the American Southwest.

Author Bio (from publisher):

Author and photographer William Ascarza has lived in the Tucson Mountains for more than 10 years and has written a previous book about the mountains titled Zenith on the Horizon: An Encyclopedic Look at the Tucson Mountains from A to Z. He is an avid researcher and hiker. He holds a master's degree in Information Resources & Library Science and works in the library field of government documents at the University of Arizona. He is also a docent at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Kids and faculty over at Old Pueblo Children's Academy have taken to recycling all of their used-up Capri Sun pouches through a company called TerraCycle. As of Oct. 21, the students have helped to keep 8,221 pouches out of landfills, and raised $164 for their school.

Nationwide, 50 million drink pouches have been recycled so far. That's the weight of 20 school buses, and the length of 480 football fields.

More than 70,000 schools and groups have signed up to help collect trash for TerraCycle. Any organizations interested in participating can get more info at the TerraCycle website.

Way to go, Old Pueblo Children's Academy! Keep up the good work.

Law and Disorder brings us a legal tidbit we missed earlier this month:

The film and music businesses couldn't stop file-sharing, but the porn industry has a plan to drive piracy into the shadows in 15 months or less. Can DogFart, Lords of Porn, and Naughty Bank succeed where others have failed?

They certainly hope so. To that end, a company called Pink Visual rounded up a huge collection of porn studios and lawyers for a "content protection retreat" (CPR) in Tucson last week, one designed to get the industry working together on an anti-P2P strategy. CPR was designed to "revive" the business, and backers hope hope they can "significantly reduce digital piracy of adult content and to effectively drive those who engage in adult content piracy completely underground by January 2012."

The plan? Lawsuits against porn pirates:

But when it comes to suing end users, porn studios are as divided as every other content industry. We've seen numerous studios sue thousands of anonymous Does over the last few months, apparently taking a cue from the US Copyright Group's 14,000+ lawsuits against indie film pirates. Several of the companies involved in this new wave of litigation were at the CPR event, but others believe it's simply counterproductive to sue fans and have refused to do so.

Such lawsuits have had limited success when it comes to music and movies, but pornographers might be in a better position to coax people into settling quickly for a few thousand dollars. As Pink Visual president Allison Vivas told the Agence France Presse in September, "It seems like it will be quite embarrassing for whichever user ends up in a lawsuit about using a popular shemale title. When it comes to private sexual fantasies and fetishes, going public is probably not worth the risk that these torrent and peer-to-peer users are taking."

It's pretty clear that Sen. John McCain is giving a big assist to Republican Ruth McClung, the political newbie whose unlikely campaign against Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva has made her a contender. But is the piggyback ride crossing the line set by McCain's own legendary campaign-finance reform laws?

Huffpo investigates here:

John McCain's Senate campaign is directly coordinating with the candidacy of Arizona Republican House challenger Ruth McClung in apparent violation of the letter and spirit of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform law.

McCain's unusual involvement in the House race has much to do with the interests of uranium and copper mining companies, which have been lobbying hard to mine in the state. McClung's opponent, Democratic incumbent Raul Grijalva, chairman of a key Natural Resources House Subcommittee, has stood in the way.

McCain's violation stems from his decision to invest more than $90,000 of his Senate campaign's money to boost McClung's candidacy. When Democrats complained, McCain produced documents showing he had filed with the Federal Election Commission to declare that his campaign is making "independent expenditures" on behalf of the McClung campaign. But in order to remain independent in the eye of the law, the campaigns can't coordinate.

McCain responds:

A McCain campaign spokesman said that no laws were broken because the campaign didn't coordinate on the specific media buy in question. "You've cracked the code — a revelation so incredible it's sure to make headlines nationwide: McClung volunteers and McCain volunteers will make phone calls at the same place for a few nights this week to ensure that the Republican ticket defeats boycott promoter Raul Grijalva and his liberal understudy Rodney Glassman. We thank the Huffington Post for getting this phone bank a bit more publicity than normal," said Brian Rogers.