IN SCOTTSDALE, a prosperous suburb of Phoenix, around 150 developers and estate agents are sweating politely under the unforgiving Arizona sun as they listen to each of six Republicans explain why he or she should be elected governor. Arizona has earned a reputation for wackiness, but the political mischief here is of the ordinary sort. Taxes must drop, some candidates insist, although services must be maintained. The construction industry is pandered to, its tax breaks defended.To outsiders Arizona is known for tin-eared reactionary politics, from demurring over whether to mark Martin Luther King’s birthday to passing a law, later gutted by the Supreme Court, which empowered local police to enforce federal immigration rules (and which critics say encouraged racial profiling). A few weeks ago Jan Brewer, the outgoing governor, vetoed SB 1062, a bill that would have given private firms a religious-freedom defence if they refused to serve gay customers. Arizona, says Fred DuVal, a Democrat running for governor, has a “unique tendency for no filters”.Yet it has elected Democratic governors and...
from The Economist: United States http://ift.tt/1jz5cHH
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