Carmona to head military panel while weighing Ariz. Senate bid

“I’m profoundly honored to be able to have been asked to chair this panel, but it really does not have an impact on anything else I’ll be doing in my life,” Carmona said Wednesday.

{mosads}Democrats are eager to secure a competitive candidate in the race to replace retiring Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), whose seat is one that Democrats are most hopeful about flipping in 2012 as part of their plan to maintain control of the Senate.

Former state Democratic Party Chairman Don Bivens has entered the primary, locked up endorsements from several prominent Arizona Democrats and raised big money in the first quarter of his campaign. But with the Democratic nominee likely to face Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and his $2.4 million war chest in the general, some Democrats are concerned Bivens isn’t their best shot at success in 2012.

The investigative panel that Carmona will lead will have 60 days once it is sworn in and begins work to report back to report back. But in the mean time, the Senate race is proceeding without him.

“Bowing out of a Senate race for 60 or 90 days is to me like bowing out, period,” said David Waid, another former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party. “I think he’ll be in for a rude surprise later when he finds out that primary opponents are so far down the track that it’s not worth taking on.”

The unique nature of Carmona’s new military assignment makes it difficult to predict the political ramifications if he were to announce and run for Senate while also serving in a prominent role at the head of a nonpartisan investigative panel. A military spokesman said Carmona will be acting as an unpaid civilian.

Carmona pointed out that his involvement with the military panel actually predates the calls for him to run for Senate; He said the Defense Department contacted him months ago, but the panel was not announced until after the military’s initial investigation had been carried out.

“This is just a service to my country and whether I run or I don’t run, whether I teach at the university or any other things that I do are really immaterial.”

Carmona noted that public servants frequently hold multiple posts at the same time. He also downplayed concerns that while he remains on the fence about a run, Bivens is locking down the support of major Arizona donors and building his campaign infrastructure.

“I’m not involved in any party politics and never have been,” he said. “If I run, it’s because I feel I can make a significant contribution that is distinctly different from those in office already. People are encouraging me to run because they trust me, and I have not been part of the political system.”