Giffords campaigned Saturday for Barber (who was wounded on the same day she that she was shot and six others died). At a big rally in Tucson's historic Rialto Theater, Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, said Tuesday's contest was "more than an ordinary election" that could provide "closure for Gabby's career in Congress."
The Republican candidate for the Arizona seat, Jesse Kelly, ran against Giffords in 2010, and lost by barely 4,000 votes on a 48-47 finish. A 40-year-old Marine with close ties to the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, Kelly is running a very strong race.
And he's got full support from the national party.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and its allies are "all in" with a slashing attack campaign that targets Barber, suggesting he would be a rubber-stamp for President Obama.
While the Democratic candidate in the race may actually raise more money than the Republican in official campaign accounts, the Republican is benefiting from an intense final spending push by Rove's American Crossroads complex, Dick Armey's Freedomworks and the right-wing American Action Network, along with full array of Republican Congressional committees and PACs.
Their message: if Kelly wins, they're better positioned to keep not just the US House but the White House. "On Tuesday night, after we get victory, after we get there, this will be all over every news outlet out there in the whole country," says Kelly. "Alaska will be watching. New York. They will all be watching what you did."
By the same token, if Democrat Barber wins, the Democratic Southwestern strategy -- for Congress and the presidency -- will remain a live option.
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