March 15, 2011

On the patio of a downtown bar here last Wednesday night, a handful of people gathered over pitchers of beer to plot the creation of America’s 51st state.
With copies of the Arizona constitution before them, they debated how to turn Pima County—a liberal southern swatch of Arizona that borders Mexico and includes Tucson—into “Baja Arizona.”
The separatists point to Maine, which became a state in 1820 after residents lobbied for independence from Massachusetts. But it took them three decades, and as a free state Maine provided balance with the slave states. After the Massachusetts legislature approved the split, Congress and the President signed off as well.
Start Our State is looking to introduce a ballot initiative in Pima County next year, an election year and Arizona’s 100th birthday.
It’s unclear whether the county would allow it, never mind its fate with Congress and the president.
Other counties have been invited to join. In one scenario, northern counties would link to Pima, creating the nation’s first doughnut-shaped state, with Republican Maricopa as the doughnut hole

