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Now that primaries across the country are winding down, we hear that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is poised to endorse Barack Obama late next week.

That would fall after the remaining Democratic contests Sunday and Tuesday.

With Hillary Rodham Clinton's chances of winning the Democratic nomination having pretty much evaporated, and more and more superdelegates — including Giffords — having parked in the Obama lot, it's really not a very risky move for the Southern Arizona Democrat to make.

In contrast to Gov. Janet Napolitano, who endorsed Obama back in January, Giffords opted out of taking sides when this race was still hot.

But as Obama looks to quash Clinton's support among party insiders, a Giffords endorsement would still be better late than never.

During his visit Tuesday to Phoenix, President Bush didn't just tie up traffic — he also brought action at the Legislature to a screeching halt.

A number of Republicans, including Senate President Tim Bee, needed to get out of the Capitol for a few hours to make it to a fundraiser Bush hosted for Sen. John McCain. And the field trip may have gone unnoticed had it not been a bizarre day.

That morning, during a debate on a bill to ban text messaging while driving, the Senate leadership got tied into some procedural knots.

The Democratic-backed bill appeared to have the votes it needed, and a hour of efforts by Republicans to amend and/or kill it went nowhere. And so, suddenly — early in the afternoon — the Senate recessed.

It wasn't until after 7 p.m. that senators came back to the floor — an hour after Bush left from Sky Harbor International Airport. But at that point, only 13 members were still around, and 16 senators are needed for a quorum.

Bee opted to adjourn despite calls by Democrats to round up the missing members, making all the activity early in the day basically meaningless. Everyone at the Capitol, even veterans, seemed thoroughly confused.

It makes you wonder, what's worse: distracted drivers or distracted lawmakers?

Most politicians have golfing events to raise money. But U.S. Rep. Rául Grijalva isn't most politicians.

The Southern Arizona Democrat is holding a bowl-athon today to raise money for his re-election bid.

Republican Gene Chewning, a local preacher, already has filed to run against the congressman in his heavily Democratic district. And perennial candidate Joe Sweeney has been collecting signatures.

As the announcement came down Thursday that Lute and Christine Olson had reached a divorce settlement, Christine O. was drawing some attention from Democrats for what seemed like an unorthodox political alliance.

The ex-wife of Coach O. teamed up that same day to co-host a fundraiser for fellow Republican Pete Hershberger, a state representative running for the Senate.

That's the normal part.

But her co-host, powerful Democratic booster Joan Kaye Cauthorn, put Dem activists in a tailspin.

A number of people felt Cauthorn's help was a slap at the Democrat in the North Side race, Cheryl Cage.

See, some Dems actually want to see moderate Hershberger lose his GOP primary to conservative Al Melvin, boosting, they think, Cage's chances of winning in the general election.

But as it turns out, Cauthorn and Hershberger have known each other since the '70s (they met in a statistics class at the University of Arizona). And she's also a friend and confidante of Christine's.

Asked about the cross-party friendships, which ignited Democratic activists, Cauthorn said, "Patriotism trumps partisanship."