The Arizona Senate race is considered to be in a statistical dead heat based on recent polls when a 6% margin of error is factored in.  Challenger Jim Pederson (D) has received an unlikely endorsement from the online gambling community, which in under a week has resulted in just shy of 100 independent donors to his campaign. 

Pederson has stayed at arm's length from the issue of online gambling.  Instead, representatives from the Pederson camp have suggested that opponent Jon Kyl has spent too much time focusing on internet gambling and not enough time on more crucial issues such as national security and Iraq.  Kyl chairs the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Jon Kyl has insisted that online gambling destroys families.  He carved out a niche for horse racing in his co-sponsored bill to ban internet gambling, however.  He did the same for state lotteries.  Many critics questioned why the exceptions.

Grassroots movement Poker Players Against Jon Kyl have provided quite a boost for the Jim Pederson campaign, with donors giving more than twice the amount of money than all other independent fund raising efforts combined according to ActBlue.com

Considering the campaign only began late this past week, the $7000 plus amount raised thus far and 91 donors is impressive to say the least.  Most interested in the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl message are more inclined to not vote for Jon Kyl than they are to endorse Jim Pederson however.  Few online gamers trust the political establishment as it stands now and Pederson hasn't exactly come out embracing the PPAJK.

The Arizona State Senate race serves as the most crucial in regard to poker player and online gamers rights as Jon Kyl has made prohibition of the activity enjoyed by millions of Americans a priority.

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak at a Democratic rally on the Arizona State University campus Thursday. The Get Out The Vote rally is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. on the lawn near the Hayden Library. Clinton is expected to speak around 4:30 p.m., but his specific schedule was somewhat in flux late Wednesday, said Alice McKeon, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party.

As many as 3,500 people are expected at the rally, which is free and open to the public, she said.

“It’s going to be a very popular speaker getting people excited about the election, which will be five days away,” she said.

Clinton’s return visit to Arizona underscores the national Democratic Party’s belief that it can do well in the state Tuesday.

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published November 2, 2006 12:35 am ET