Democrats say they are going to go all out next year to try to capture the seat in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District held by Republican Rep. Rick Renzi, whose political future has been clouded by his connection to a pending federal investigation into a land deal.

But if Democrats do make a serious run in what, on paper, appears a potential partisan swing district, they will have to do it with a fresh candidate: Ellen Simon, whose vigorous but late-starting challenge to Renzi in 2006 fell short, announced Thursday that she is dropping her bid for a 2008 rematch.

Simon, who filed candidacy papers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) just three weeks ago, said in a statement that she is withdrawing “for personal reasons.”

New York Times