Tim Bee

Former 8th Congressional District Representative Jim Kolbe, a Republican, told PolitickerAZ.com he doesn't believe the double-digit victory of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) should deter Republicans from challenging her in the future.

"2008 is a very bad year for Republicans," Kolbe said.

He wouldn't comment on whether or not he thought state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), who was 12 points behind Giffords with vote counting nearly complete.   

However, Kolbe did say that to defeat Giffords, "You have to have the right candidate."

It was a good night for Arizona's incumbent members of Congress, as all three representatives up for re-election are set to be returned to office in January.

Republican challenger David Schweikert came closest to pulling an upset, but not very close. He trailed U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe) by a little over nine points with 97 percent of returns in.

At 99 percent of precincts reporting, U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) had a larger margin over his opponent, Democrat Bob Lord, leading 54 to 42 in the 3rd District.

Tim Bee, president of the Arizona State Senate, had the same deficit against U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (R-Tucson) as of midnight, attracting 43 percent to Giffords's 55. However, with only 73 percent of precincts in, it's still possible Bee could pull an upset over the first term 8th District Democrat.

Here are the Election Night happenings for congressional candidates and Sen. John McCain. 

This post will be updated as events are announced.

JOHN MCCAIN:

Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa

2400 E. Missouri Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85016

This is a ticketed event. No one without a ticket will be admitted.

PHOENIX -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona has denounced a new Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad targeting her Republican opponent, calling for its removal. "I denounce the latest advertisement from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee towards my opponent Tim Bee that began on 10/08," Giffords said in statement on the ad that hit local airwaves in the 8th Congressional District on Wednesday. "Personal attacks have no place in this campaign."

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) has responded to a new ad from 8th Congressional District challenger Tim Bee, calling his accusations that Giffords voted to raise taxes on middle class Arizona families "baseless."

As it had with Bee's previous attack ad, the Giffords campaign issued a point-by-point refutation of the claims in "Independent Leadership," the telelvision spot that cites a vote Giffords made in 2007 to claim that she "voted for a Pelosi supported tax increase that raises taxes on southern Arizonan families two thousand dollars a year."

"The vote the ad cites as evidence was a non-binding resolution that does not raise taxes on seniors or anyone else," read the memo put out by the Giffords campaign. "Tim Bee again shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the legislative process in cherry-picking a procedural vote for a negative attack ad that misrepresents the position of Congresswoman Giffords."

Both the campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) and the Arizona Democratic Party accused state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) of religious intolerance Tuesday for criticizing Giffords's return to Arizona during the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Bee put out a statement earlier Tuesday in which he decried Giffords's return to Tucson Monday night. In the statement, he urged her to "follow her own advice and rush back to Washington, put politics aside and develop solutions as quickly as she rushed to Arizona to campaign against me."

However, Giffords, who is Jewish, plans to stay in Arizona throughout Rosh Hashanah, which doesn't end until Wednesday at sundown. According to her congressional spokesman C.J. Karamargin, Giffords plans to fly back to Washington, D.C. either Wednesday night or Thursday morning, after the Jewish New Year is over.

"For anyone to criticize someone for their religious beliefs, it's unconscionable," said Karamargin. "If that is indeed the basis of the criticism then it is a sorry statement on the state of his campaign and the depths that he's sunk to. To be criticized for celebrating a religious holiday is completely out of bounds."

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) attacked his 8th Congressional District opponent, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in a statement Tuesday, criticizing her for returning home after Monday's vote on the failed financial rescue bill.

"She urged Democrats and Republicans to 'put election-year politics aside' and develop solutions," said Bee in a statement, "while, according to the Arizona Daily Star, 'she hopped on a plane for Tucson to ... campaign against her Republican challenger, Tim Bee. Numerous efforts to reach Giffords were unsuccessful.'"

The full quote from the Arizona Daily Star article read: "Instead she hopped on a plane for Tucson to celebrate the Jewish New Year and campaign against her Republican challenger, Tim Bee." Rosh Hashanah began Monday night and ends Wednesday night.

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Gabreille Giffords (D-Tucson) has issued a point-by-point refutation of the claims in a new ad from rival state Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), which accuses Giffords of voting along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) 90 percent of the time, including votes against funding for U.S. troops and in favor of civil rights for terrorists.

A nine-page memo was the Giffords campaign's response, in which it tries to pick apart the arguments presented in the attack from Bee.

"Tim Bee did not do his homework," said the memo. "A comparison of the voting records of Congresswoman Giffords and Speaker Pelosi shows that... Giffords voted the same way as Nancy Pelosi 8% of the time given that the Speaker abstains from most of the votes. Furthermore, the Speaker does not take a public position on most votes and has allowed bills to come to the floor that she has publicly opposed."

The Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee has released a new ad (see below) tying Tim Bee to George Bush. The DCCC has also released ads in recent weeks targetting David Schweikert and Sydney Hay. The one noticeable absence so far is the lack of an add against John Shadegg or in support of Bob Lord. The National Republican Campaign Committee, faced with financial limitiations has been much quieter to date in Arizona.

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) has gone negative in his bid to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in the 8th Congressional District, releasing a new television ad that attacks Giffords for voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "over 90 percent of the time" and for being soft on terror suspects.

State Sen. Pres. Tim Bee (R-Tucson) has gone negative in his bid to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) in the 8th Congressional District, releasing a new television ad that attacks Giffords for voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "over 90 percent of the time," failing to support the troops and being soft on terror suspects.

Here is the transcript: 

Voice Over: Nancy Pelosi - leading Congress in the wrong direction.

Gabrielle Giffords - votes with Nancy Pelosi ninety-percent of the time.               

Giffords voted for Pelosi’s plan to end the Iraq war by blocking funding for U.S. troops in battle.

Pelosi supports Giffords’s own bill to allow captured terrorists to be tried in our courts with the same full legal rights as American citizens.  

Gabrielle Giffords votes for Nancy Pelosi’s agenda ninety-percent of the time.