[combusean]

I disagree that Arizona's politics have fallen off the radar. As a former arizona resident in the Bay Area, there are two things that people up here relate about Arizona to me all the time: that it's really hot, and that it's really racist. I think of everyone I've talked to, just one person who was in town to watch the Giants for spring training and was drunk all the time said good things about the Phoenix area.

The above growth projections for the area depend on a reliable water supply, incidentally. Arizona will get MUCH less water from the Colorado if levels on Lake Mead drop another several feet, and the repercussions for the state's overall golf and swimming pool "economy" would be disastrous. I can't find the article that said it, but this is at a greater than 50% likelihood by 2017.