The New Face of Politics

In Meade County, north of Fort Knox, judge executive is the top supervisor position. Flaherty's friends noted that no woman had ever held that high an office in the county, and asked what she knew about supervising the county government. "I raised three sons on [my husband's] pipe fitter's salary," Flaherty says. "I know how to run a budget."

In this year's May 18 primary, Flaherty bested Craycroft by more than a thousand votes in a surprise upset. "I think I outworked him," she says of her opponent.

SACRIFICES AND SATISFACTION

For the general election campaign, Flaherty has knocked on doors (some 2,500 to date), held fundraising bean-soup-and-cornbread suppers, and staffed an eight-by-eight-foot yellow-and-green booth strung with paper lanterns at the county fair. Her husband, Allen, is one of her biggest supporters and accompanies her at least half the time when she's on the trail. "There are things we've given up this year," he admits. "We would have liked to take a vacation, but we're spending all our money on yard signs, bumper stickers, meals out. My wife is a great cook, and I miss that." He pauses, then adds with a smile, "If Becky wins, we'll just make some more sacrifices. You get paid back at another point when she makes Meade County a better place. And if she loses, well, we've worked hard and kept ourselves honest."

Back in Tempe, Wendy Rogers does her bicycle campaigning solo, while her husband, retired Air Force major Hal Kunnen, keeps things running at the home-inspection and termite-eradication company the couple started in 1995. (Their 23-year-old son just completed a tour of duty in the Marines and has moved back to Tempe to get his Ph.D. in electrical engineering; their daughter is a junior at the Honors Barrett College at Arizona State University and is living in a house her parents helped her buy using the first-time homebuyer's tax credit.) "I miss my partner," says Kunnen. "She's the outgoing type and has a skill set that she's able to use in our business. But I believe we need people like her to do what needs to be done at the state level."

When the voter in the Tempe tract house finally opened his door, Rogers stepped back as she appraised her potential constituent. A registered Independent, he was a burly man wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, with multiple facial piercings and tattoos on every limb. Rogers quickly listed the issues she's most interested in: tax problems facing small business owners, Arizona's education budget, and increasing the effectiveness of the state's mental health services. The voter's eyes grew wide. He told Rogers that he worked at a group home for mentally ill adolescents and the state had slashed its funding. All the employees voluntarily took a 15 percent pay cut to keep the home open.

As he spoke, Rogers's eyes grew moist. "That's an issue that means a lot to me," she said. "I got my master's in social work, focusing on the mentally ill, and I started out in the Air Force as a social worker. I think Arizona can do a lot better with the resources it has."

The voter's eyes also welled up, and Rogers asked for his cell phone number and e-mail address. "If I get elected, I want you to be on my advisory committee for mental health," she said. "We need people with your real-world experience advising on policy." She reached out to shake his hand. "You're a great American."

As she headed to the next doorstep, the voter called after her, "Good luck!"

Rogers turned back, grinning broadly at her newfound ally. "I'm gonna win!" she said.