Tanner Bell's signs could have been red, white and blue - the palette of politics but also of the Arizona Wildcats, this town's greatest unifier.
He could have come up with a slogan touting his college football career. Tanner Bell: Right Tackle, Right Choice. Tanner Bell: Protecting Pima County's Blind Side. Score a Touchdown with Tanner. That sort of thing.
It's to his credit, then, that Bell's banners touting his Republican run for Pima County Board of Supervisors' District 3 seat are orange.
"I wanted to be a little different," he said.
He's certainly a Wildcat. Bell played offensive line for the UA before concussions chased him from the game just before the 2006 season. ("I would go to drive home and end up at the airport a couple times," he said.) Now 28, he has spent the last two seasons as an academic counselor for the UA football team.
He's running with the blessing of his superiors, including athletic director Greg Byrne, even though a victory would force him to leave the UA for the full-time Pima position.
Bell is Arizona's tallest policy wonk.
The 6-foot-9-inch Bell majored in regional development at the UA and worked in financial services. Bell entered politics, he said, annoyed when Rep. Raul Grijalva called for an Arizona boycott in 2010.
Before deciding to run against Sharon Bronson - who has been a supervisor since Bell was 12 - he was the executive director of the Arizona Policy Institute, a local think tank.
"I believe politics should be more like athletics," he said, "when you come together to accomplish a common goal."
When Bell talks about his campaign - which has raised about $10,000 so far - he cites the importance of being business-friendly, fixing roads and combating poverty in the district that spans a ridiculous 7,403 square miles.
"Potholes discriminate against both Republicans and Democrats," he said.
You didn't come to this space for political analysis, but I can tell you two things about Bell.
One, I randomly wound up guarding him in a pick-up basketball game six months ago. Despite towering over me by 6 inches, Bell elected not to torch me for 25 points. So while I can't speak to his political acumen with any expertise, I can assure you he's merciful.
And second, years ago he parked cars for six months rather than ask his parents for money. Can you imagine that, at 6-9? So, I presume, Bell is flexible.
For the first time since he was in eighth grade, Bell isn't playing or coaching football this year - he assisted at Tucson High School in 2011. Single and without kids, he spends most of his off-campus hours working on the campaign.
"I'm not soft-spoken about anything. If I see something wrong, I want to call people out on it," he said. "It gets to a certain point where you can complain and complain and complain, and nothing ever gets fixed. You can step up and do something about it, or sit back and stop complaining.
"I don't want to stop complaining. I want to have a seat at the table and say, 'Listen, let's try it this way.'"
There's no polling, but Bell knows he needs to reach more than just Republicans to win in November. District3, he said, has more independent voters than Democrats, and more Democrats than Republicans.
He also knows that his election might swing on whether voters are anti-Democrat or anti-incumbent when they cast their Presidential ballots.
Until then, he'll keep wooing voters door-to-door.
"I get asked at every house, 'Are you a basketball player?'" he said, smiling. "I usually make a joke - 'I worked for a living. I was an offensive lineman.'"
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