Rep. Raúl Grijalva

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It's interesting how time can transform a politician, and all without their having to change their position.

When Rep. Raúl Grijalva, then a freshman Democrat, voted against granting President Bush the authority to go to Iraq in 2003, he was considerably out of step with the mainstream.

Public support for the war was high. There was talk about WMD's and al-Qaida connections. Voting against going to Iraq would have been a major political risk were Grijalva not in the safe haven of his liberal congressional district, which stretches across Southwestern Arizona.

Today, things have changed: Iraq is a mess, and the public has turned. Polls show 62 percent of Americans think the war was a mistake. Sixty-six percent want to reduce troops levels or remove them entirely. So, Grijalva — now in his third term — finds himself in the mainstream when he talks about the mistakes that were made and where to go now.

This week, he and neighboring Democrat Gabrielle Giffords voted in support of the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act. The bill (Giffords was a co-sponsor) would require redeployment of troops from Iraq within 120 days of the date of enactment and to complete the "reduction and transition to a limited presence" by April 1, 2008.

It passed the House, but even if it passes the Senate, the president has sworn to veto it. For Grijalva, the bill should move things even faster.

"At some point the bill needs to be more definitive," he said in an interview.

As for the cautious language, which stresses "responsibility," Grijalva said, "There's an unwarranted fear among some of my Democratic colleagues that by being critical and by demanding beginning the process of an immediate pullout, that somehow we are soft on terrorism and not supporting the troops, both of which are wrong."

On Wednesday morning, Capitol reporters showed up for Gov. Janet Napolitano's regularly weekly press briefing, coffee in hand, ready to grill the governor on a host of issues.

Except Napolitano was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't until Thursday we learned why.

"I had a little accident," said a sheepish Napolitano. "I was playing tennis yesterday morning. I had a close encounter with the court, so I had to get an X-ray. It's a good thing I wasn't at Wimbledon."

"I did not break anything," she said. "And I missed the shot, too. So it's like adding insult to injury."

Napolitano hurt her shoulder, but said she'¯s doing fine.

"So how's health care under the Arizona system?" one reporter asked.

"My state employee health care is quite good, thank you very much," she replied.

A number of Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate are calling for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, which requires broadcast stations to balance viewpoints.

It's obvious to see how monitoring that could get tricky.

Still, the support from Dems is in response to the influence of conservative talk radio, which helped kill the Senate immigration compromise late last month.

Now, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, is speaking out against the move.

 "Some Democrats may not like talk radio, but that does not give them the right to use the heavy hand of government to regulate it," Kyl said in a recent statement.

Kyl said reinstituting the doctrine, last used in the 1980s, "would seriously impinge on the freedom of Americans by putting government, not listeners and media outlets, in charge of determining what should appear on the airwaves."

David Waid, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, announced this week he is stepping down to focus on his family and his newly started public policy group.

Waid, 43, has been chairman for a little bit over a year, and helped lead the party through its 2006 successes, which included picking up six seats in the state House and two congressional seats.