United States Senate election in Arizona, 1986
Encyclopedia
The 1986 United States Senate election in Arizona was held on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater
decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Republican nominee John McCain
won the open seat.
, both owned by McCain benefactor Darrow Tully
. One Gazette columnist described him as displaying "terminal weirdness." McCain ultimately won the election by a margin of twenty percent, and is now Arizona's senior Senator.
In his 2002 memoir Worth the Fighting For
, McCain described the race and his opponent:
According to the Project Vote Smart
web site, during his closing remarks at a debate, Kimball decided to forgo an attack on McCain in favor of this speech:
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Republican nominee John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
won the open seat.
Campaign
Kimball's campaign was subject to negative press from the Arizona Republic and Phoenix GazettePhoenix Gazette
The Phoenix Gazette was a newspaper published in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It was founded in 1881, and was known in its early years as the Phoenix Evening Gazette....
, both owned by McCain benefactor Darrow Tully
Darrow Tully
Darrow J. "Duke" Tully, is a former publisher of The Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette newspapers, published in Phoenix, Arizona. Both were owned by Central Newspapers, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the time. Central Newspapers was founded by Eugene C...
. One Gazette columnist described him as displaying "terminal weirdness." McCain ultimately won the election by a margin of twenty percent, and is now Arizona's senior Senator.
In his 2002 memoir Worth the Fighting For
Worth the Fighting For
Worth the Fighting For is a 2002 book by United States Senator John McCain with Mark Salter. Published by Random House, it is part autobiography, part mini-biographies of others....
, McCain described the race and his opponent:
[M]y first race for the Senate was pretty close to a foregone conclusion. I led in the polls from start to finish. My eventual opponent, Richard Kimball, (...) was a tall, good-looking guy who shared his name with the hero of a popular 1960s television drama, The FugitiveThe Fugitive (TV series)The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
. He was a nice man and a well-intentioned public servant. But for all his fine qualities, he was not the first-tier candidate the Democrats had hoped to field.
According to the Project Vote Smart
Project Vote Smart
Project Vote Smart is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States...
web site, during his closing remarks at a debate, Kimball decided to forgo an attack on McCain in favor of this speech:
Understand what we do to you; we spend all of our time raising money, often from strangers we do not even know. Then we spend it in three specific ways: first we measure you, what it is you want to purchase in the political market place -- just like Campbell's Soup or Kellogg's Cereal. Next we hire some consultants who know how to tailor our image to fit what will sell. Lastly, we bombard you with the meaningless, issueless, emotional nonsense that is always the result. And which ever one of us does that best will win!