We can only hope this Bastard gets whats comming to him!
The Arizona Senate race was not supposed to be this close. Two term landslide winner, Jon Kyl (R) was almost guaranteed a third term just over a month ago. But a lot has changed since then.
Many Arizona citizens were unaware that Jon Kyl played an active role in trying to ban internet poker over the years and finally got the deed done October 1 with a provision he shrewdly had attached to the all important port security bill. This "unrelated" piece of legislation viewed as something that serves self-interest groups has outraged one time Kyl supporters.
Hundreds of thousands of online poker players have been notified over this past week via the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl grassroots efforts and the word is spreading like wildfire across some of the world's most popular interactive poker forums. Challenger Jim Pederson (D) is within striking distance of 4.5 percentage points and leads in the early voting.
The majority of those asked to support the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl have not exactly embraced Jim Pederson, who himself has shown little if any support for the internet poker community. But Pederson is being viewed as the lesser of two evils in Arizona and the PPA continues to be relentless in its campaign..
PoketFives.com - considered one of the most popular of the online poker forums - featured a thread encouraging all readers to contribute $5 to Pederson's campaign. The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl contribution page was set up at http://www.actblue.com/page/pokerplayers though the main message is simply to vote against Jon Kyl.
"Hard to stand behind many political causes as a business owner," said one PoketFives.com forum member. "But I will back this one up 100%. John Kyl is the single biggest enemy of our industry."
"Kyl and Frist and Goodlatte starring in 'Three Stooges Go To Capitol Hill'", joked another forum member, making reference to all three Senators who helped push the online gambling ban along without much support from their fellow Congressmen, most of whom felt compelled to vote for the prohibition only because it was attached to the port security bill.
A number of PoketFives.com members expressed skepticism regarding Pederson, hence the reason only a small percentage of those in the online poker community have actually contributed to his campaign.
After one forum member offered some not-so-flattering words about Pederson, another member chimed in:
"Then it seems the choice is to vote for the clown who favors your position over the clown who doesn't," referring of course to Pederson. "By the way, the last 3 polls show the gap has closed between the two to under 6%. There is definitely a possibility here as long as Pederson can keep running ads and does an effective job at getting out the vote. Both require money; ship some tokes to Pederson."
One member warns that "Kyl has spent the last 10 years trying to outlaw our industry in any way possible. He is, and continues to be, our industry's biggest enemy in the US Government." In fact, a Pederson spindoctor has gone on record with the Arizona Daily Star suggesting that Kyl has been so preoccupied with banning online poker while protecting his precious state lottery and the politically powerful horse racing industry, he's spent very little time focusing on national security and the situation in Iraq. Kyl chairs the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee.
Kyl's own quotes have some worried far beyond the scope of just internet gambling, though few are willing to compare Kyl to the likes of say a Senator Joseph McCarthy.
"It's been over ten years in the making. The enforcement provisions in this bill will go a long way to stop these illegal online operations," said Kyl, referring to the internet gambling prohibition. "This ban will help authorities enforce existing federal and state laws.
"A professor once appropriately likened Internet gambling to cocaine use. Internet gambling's characteristics are unique, because: online players can gamble 24 hours a day from the comfort of their home; children may play without sufficient age verification; and betting with a credit card can undercut a player's perception of the value of cash, leading to possible addiction and, in turn, to bankruptcy, crime, and suicide."
Kyl fails to explain why he ensured exemptions for horse betting and state lotteries, perhaps hoping the American public would overlook this minute contradiction of the quote above.
Kyl's own spin doctor has assured the press that the poker playing demographic really is not capable of making an impact at the polls. Yet Arizona ranks among the top US states in terms of online poker players, primarily situated in the Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona regions.
The campaign lodged by the online poker community has its flaws however. Stopping short of endorsing Jim Pederson means that many of those no longer wishing to vote for Jon Kyl will instead look towards the Libertarian party. Realists understand it will require a win by Pederson to get Kyl out of office.
"I live in AZ, have never voted democratic anything in my life, and voted against Kyl," said another forum member. "Granted, I voted for the no name libertarian because Pederson is horrible, but still, that's one less Kyl vote at least."
Yet another forum member drove the point home.
"I too fell for a lot of the smaller candidates when I was younger. They just sounded better than the options available to me. Over time I realized that I had to compromise what I want with what is best. At this point, on this day, Pederson and Ford (of Tennessee) are best for us given the opposition.
"IMO if you vote Libertarian you are wasting a vote given what is at stake in these elections. I consider myself a Libertarian too, I identify with them way more than the other two parties but I won't be wasting my vote to show that some no name no one got a few votes as a symbol of rebelling against a broken system. Do that when it doesn't matter, not now."
Elsewhere, poker professionals like Annie Duke have also gotten on board the bandwagon, supporting PPA's efforts.
On the Google Poker Rec boards, a poster by the name of Larry writes:
"Further Kyl represents the most oppresive of 'Family Values' Neo-Conservative pandering. He makes the likes of Pelossi's liberal pandering seem down right libertarian. Kyl is/was a high priced mouth piece for the Public Utilities in AZ and Champion of Narrow Interests when practicing law. Help send him back to that practice."
The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl set out to attack the Arizona Senator via thousands of MySpace.com poker player members residing in his state, many of whom have had trouble finding new places in which to play following the mass exodus of sites such as PartyPoker, Paradise, OnGame and MyCitadel (an eCommerce company).
The nearly 150,000 member strong Poker Players Alliance meanwhile has set its sights on other anti-online gambling politicians in various states. The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl effort has elected to hone in on only one candidate viewed as the most potent industry threat. A loss by Kyl would certainly set a precedent and put other politicians on notice.
But for the past several years, Kyl has been to Arizona what the Kennedy's are to Massachusetts, minus the booze. Getting him out of office won't be an easy task even with The DSCC buying up all available time left in Arizona on advertising, as Pederson's late-surge puts him within striking distance of a huge upset victory. And yes, this was an unimaginable scenario just over a month ago so anything is possible in this race. Tuesday should be a nail biter at the very least.
---
Christopher Costigan, www.gambling911.com
Originally published November 3, 2006 1:22 am ET
The Arizona Senate race was not supposed to be this close. Two term landslide winner, Jon Kyl (R) was almost guaranteed a third term just over a month ago. But a lot has changed since then.
Many Arizona citizens were unaware that Jon Kyl played an active role in trying to ban internet poker over the years and finally got the deed done October 1 with a provision he shrewdly had attached to the all important port security bill. This "unrelated" piece of legislation viewed as something that serves self-interest groups has outraged one time Kyl supporters.
Hundreds of thousands of online poker players have been notified over this past week via the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl grassroots efforts and the word is spreading like wildfire across some of the world's most popular interactive poker forums. Challenger Jim Pederson (D) is within striking distance of 4.5 percentage points and leads in the early voting.
The majority of those asked to support the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl have not exactly embraced Jim Pederson, who himself has shown little if any support for the internet poker community. But Pederson is being viewed as the lesser of two evils in Arizona and the PPA continues to be relentless in its campaign..
PoketFives.com - considered one of the most popular of the online poker forums - featured a thread encouraging all readers to contribute $5 to Pederson's campaign. The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl contribution page was set up at http://www.actblue.com/page/pokerplayers though the main message is simply to vote against Jon Kyl.
"Hard to stand behind many political causes as a business owner," said one PoketFives.com forum member. "But I will back this one up 100%. John Kyl is the single biggest enemy of our industry."
"Kyl and Frist and Goodlatte starring in 'Three Stooges Go To Capitol Hill'", joked another forum member, making reference to all three Senators who helped push the online gambling ban along without much support from their fellow Congressmen, most of whom felt compelled to vote for the prohibition only because it was attached to the port security bill.
A number of PoketFives.com members expressed skepticism regarding Pederson, hence the reason only a small percentage of those in the online poker community have actually contributed to his campaign.
After one forum member offered some not-so-flattering words about Pederson, another member chimed in:
"Then it seems the choice is to vote for the clown who favors your position over the clown who doesn't," referring of course to Pederson. "By the way, the last 3 polls show the gap has closed between the two to under 6%. There is definitely a possibility here as long as Pederson can keep running ads and does an effective job at getting out the vote. Both require money; ship some tokes to Pederson."
One member warns that "Kyl has spent the last 10 years trying to outlaw our industry in any way possible. He is, and continues to be, our industry's biggest enemy in the US Government." In fact, a Pederson spindoctor has gone on record with the Arizona Daily Star suggesting that Kyl has been so preoccupied with banning online poker while protecting his precious state lottery and the politically powerful horse racing industry, he's spent very little time focusing on national security and the situation in Iraq. Kyl chairs the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee.
Kyl's own quotes have some worried far beyond the scope of just internet gambling, though few are willing to compare Kyl to the likes of say a Senator Joseph McCarthy.
"It's been over ten years in the making. The enforcement provisions in this bill will go a long way to stop these illegal online operations," said Kyl, referring to the internet gambling prohibition. "This ban will help authorities enforce existing federal and state laws.
"A professor once appropriately likened Internet gambling to cocaine use. Internet gambling's characteristics are unique, because: online players can gamble 24 hours a day from the comfort of their home; children may play without sufficient age verification; and betting with a credit card can undercut a player's perception of the value of cash, leading to possible addiction and, in turn, to bankruptcy, crime, and suicide."
Kyl fails to explain why he ensured exemptions for horse betting and state lotteries, perhaps hoping the American public would overlook this minute contradiction of the quote above.
Kyl's own spin doctor has assured the press that the poker playing demographic really is not capable of making an impact at the polls. Yet Arizona ranks among the top US states in terms of online poker players, primarily situated in the Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona regions.
The campaign lodged by the online poker community has its flaws however. Stopping short of endorsing Jim Pederson means that many of those no longer wishing to vote for Jon Kyl will instead look towards the Libertarian party. Realists understand it will require a win by Pederson to get Kyl out of office.
"I live in AZ, have never voted democratic anything in my life, and voted against Kyl," said another forum member. "Granted, I voted for the no name libertarian because Pederson is horrible, but still, that's one less Kyl vote at least."
Yet another forum member drove the point home.
"I too fell for a lot of the smaller candidates when I was younger. They just sounded better than the options available to me. Over time I realized that I had to compromise what I want with what is best. At this point, on this day, Pederson and Ford (of Tennessee) are best for us given the opposition.
"IMO if you vote Libertarian you are wasting a vote given what is at stake in these elections. I consider myself a Libertarian too, I identify with them way more than the other two parties but I won't be wasting my vote to show that some no name no one got a few votes as a symbol of rebelling against a broken system. Do that when it doesn't matter, not now."
Elsewhere, poker professionals like Annie Duke have also gotten on board the bandwagon, supporting PPA's efforts.
On the Google Poker Rec boards, a poster by the name of Larry writes:
"Further Kyl represents the most oppresive of 'Family Values' Neo-Conservative pandering. He makes the likes of Pelossi's liberal pandering seem down right libertarian. Kyl is/was a high priced mouth piece for the Public Utilities in AZ and Champion of Narrow Interests when practicing law. Help send him back to that practice."
The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl set out to attack the Arizona Senator via thousands of MySpace.com poker player members residing in his state, many of whom have had trouble finding new places in which to play following the mass exodus of sites such as PartyPoker, Paradise, OnGame and MyCitadel (an eCommerce company).
The nearly 150,000 member strong Poker Players Alliance meanwhile has set its sights on other anti-online gambling politicians in various states. The Poker Players Against Jon Kyl effort has elected to hone in on only one candidate viewed as the most potent industry threat. A loss by Kyl would certainly set a precedent and put other politicians on notice.
But for the past several years, Kyl has been to Arizona what the Kennedy's are to Massachusetts, minus the booze. Getting him out of office won't be an easy task even with The DSCC buying up all available time left in Arizona on advertising, as Pederson's late-surge puts him within striking distance of a huge upset victory. And yes, this was an unimaginable scenario just over a month ago so anything is possible in this race. Tuesday should be a nail biter at the very least.
---
Christopher Costigan, www.gambling911.com
Originally published November 3, 2006 1:22 am ET
