Giffords' district meetings a key to success

Gabrielle Giffords, one of her state's most high-profile Democrats, seems at first glance to be an unlikely choice of voters in conservative-leaning southern Arizona.

But she has managed to remain popular, winning election three times in the Tucson-area congressional district by holding centrist positions, reaching out to constituents and bucking her party's position on many issues as a key member of the "Blue Dog Coalition" Democrats.

She has been tough on border security but supports comprehensive immigration reform. She voted for President Barack Obama's stimulus and health care reforms but pushed the administration to put armed National Guard troops on Arizona's border with Mexico to stop drug and human smuggling.

She maintained her popularity in her district - anchored by Tucson and swinging south toward conservative retirement communities like Green Valley and east to even more conservative Cochise County - by scheduling regular outreach meetings where she would meet constituents one-on-one. It was at just such a meeting in Tucson where she was shot Saturday.

In the wake of her November re-election - where she fended off a strong tea-party challenger in a Republican year that saw two other Arizona Democrats swept from Congress - Giffords has been mentioned as a possible Democratic nominee in 2012 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Jon Kyl or for the governor's office in 2014. Kyl has not said whether he'll run again.

"When you're talking about a future gubernatorial race or anything else, when you've run three times in a Republican district in a state that still has a narrow Republican majority, she goes to the top of the list," said Don Bivens, state Democratic Party chairman.

Giffords, 40, a one-time Republican, became a Democrat in 2000 and won election to the Arizona House, where she served one term. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona Senate and was re-elected in 2004, then stepped down in 2006 to try for the seat of retiring Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe.

Known as "Gabby," she won an easy victory by taking conservative positions for a Democrat in the district that had elected the moderate Kolbe 11 times - helped by the missteps of an ultraconservative Republican who failed even to win Kolbe's endorsement. She was easily re-elected in 2008.

Giffords "has been a very successful politician, a very successful representative" through an engaging personality and by being centrist on many issues, Kolbe said Saturday.

"I think she engages people. You have to work hard to not like Gabby Giffords," Kolbe said. "She would talk to anybody and meet with anybody."

She admitted in an October interview with The Associated Press that such events can sometimes be challenging.

"You know, the crazies on all sides, the people who come out, the planet Earth people," she said following an appearance with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Tucson where Mullen was questioned by a woman who wanted the Army to start "building cities instead of destroying them." "I'm glad this just doesn't happen to me," she said with a laugh.

In March, her Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House vote to approve the health care law.

Giffords has been married since January 2007 to NASA astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who has piloted space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. The couple have no children together; Kelly has two daughters.