Was a time you could gauge the Tucson power set by the cut of their suits, the brand of their shoes and the make of their cars.
Apparently, now, where they go on Saturday mornings is becoming an indicator.
Former Mayor Bob Walkup, now that he's been freed from the 10th floor, has been giving trap-shooting lessons to a group of about six, including influential Cox Communications veep Lisa Lovallo.
Walkup, who can hit about 9 of 10 targets, even helped Lovallo buy a shotgun.
"It's a hoot," Lovallo said, adding that after a month, she's able now to hit about six of her 10 targets and no longer gets bruises all over her biceps.
She said she's seen car magnate Buck O'Rielly out shooting.
Now, she said, former TEP exec Steve Lynn and downtown mogul Fletcher McCusker are sounding like they want to get in on the action.
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At any rate, Lovallo had been rumored for a congressional bid. Looks like she's got her sights set on clay pigeons instead.
Chat with the candidates
Starting Monday, the Arizona Daily Star and StarNet will host a series of online chats with candidates in the special election to fill the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' term in Congressional District 8.
The chats offer voters an opportunity to ask questions directly of the candidates.
All of the scheduled chats at live.azstarnet.com will begin at noon. Transcripts will be available immediately afterward at the same URL.
Android and iPhone users who download the Star's free app can follow the chat live or read the chat transcript in the apps' Mobile Extras section. The current chat schedule is:
Monday, Feb. 20 - John Lervold, Republican
Thursday, Feb. 23- Martha McSally, Republican
Friday, Feb. 24 - Dave Sitton, Republican
Thursday, March 1- Ron Barber, Democrat
Republican Frank Antenori has said he, too, intends to do one, but has not yet cemented a date.
Down the hatch
As a former fighter pilot, Republican CD8 candidate Martha McSally probably knows a thing or two about dispatching enemies.
But her planned foray tonight to speak to Drinking Liberally could be seen by some as fraternizing with the same.
Drinking Liberally is a group devoted to "tapping" good will among peeps on the left.
The more orthodox political strategy is to spend time courting the folks who will be casting votes in your own primary - and then play lip service to the center in the general. But it all makes sense to the McSally camp, which says it's all part of her message that she's open to the conversation, even if she doesn't agree on everything.
All the same, given her recent commentary on kicking jimmys, it couldn't hurt to bring more, um, cups, just in case. And we're not talking about the kind that hold libations.
Lovable dictator
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry can't be all bad.
Hence, at the Board of Supervisors meeting this week, Maya Castillo, the head of the local Pima County employees union, shed her button-down blazer to show off an eyelid-peeling pink T-shirt, emblazoned with "I (heart) Chuck."
Castillo, who urged the board to help defeat some anti-union bills at the state Legislature, threw in some homemade cookies to sweeten the effort.
Huckelberry did not, we might add, receive a single conversation heart saying "#1 Fan" from the local GOP state Legislature delegation, which has been pushing a bill to give cities veto power over county bond issues.
To that end, he asked Castillo for a favor. "Please email Rep. Terri Proud that somebody likes me," he said.
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at rbodfield@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.
