Usually, Washington is pretty sleepy between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with folks more worried about office Christmas party politics than electoral politics. That’s certainly not the case this year. Last Wednesday, on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, eleven-term GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe announced that he was retiring from his Tucson-based district. While Kolbe’s decision was not a total surprise - he is termed out of his job as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations at the close of next year - it’s still a blow to House Republican leaders who are doing all they can to convince their colleagues to stay around for another term. This district is not the most marginal seat held by a Republican, but it will still require a lot of work for the GOP to defend. Democrats quickly pounced on the opportunity. State Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, who many Arizona Democrats see as a rising political star, threw her hat in the ring on Thursday.
Tucked into the southeast corner of the state, the 8th district takes in all of rural Cochise
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