Former state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, the choice of most establishment Democrats in the 1st district Democratic primary, will be included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” fundraising and infrastructure program.

Kirkpatrick’s inclusion in Red to Blue comes on the heels of receiving an endorsement from Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). Attorney Howard Shanker, ex-television reporter Mary Kim Titla and Jeffrey Brown, who worked on Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-Ohio) presidential campaign, are also running in the Sept. 2 Democratic primary.

The DCCC credits Red to Blue with raising almost $22.6 million for 56 campaigns during the 2006 cycle, while also providing needed strategic advice that enabled those campaigns to compete effectively in the general election.

The conservative but Democratic-leaning northern Arizona 1st district is being vacated by Rep. Rick Renzi (R), who faces an indictment in federal court on 35 counts of corruption. Currently running for the Republicans are 2002 candidate Sydney Hay and Preston Korn, who ran for a seat in the state House in 2006.

Hay was recently endorsed by Rep. Jeff Flake (R).

“We need a fighter back here in Washington, D.C. — somebody who doesn’t accept the old excuses about how the federal government can’t change,” Flake said in a statement. “I’m confident she can make a difference in the nation’s capital just like she’s done in Arizona.”

— David M. Drucker