Free Republic

McCain shows up in campaign ads in… California? By Holly Bailey holly Bailey Fri Jul 9, 2:23 pm ET Arizona voters aren't the only ones seeing campaign ads featuring John McCain this year. The senator, who is up for re-election in his home state, is suddenly showing up in ads in neighboring California, where his onetime adviser, Meg Whitman, is running for governor. We’ve spotted one McCain-themed web ad popping up on a few California news sites, including the San Francisco Chronicle. It features a photo of Whitman and McCain on the trail during the ’08 presidential race. The ad...

The Republican 'maverick' bends in the wind of Tea Party-style politicsWhen does being a maverick turn into a shameless flip-flopper? Pretty much about now, according to many observers of the long and storied political career of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.Senator McCain, pictured, is now caught in one of the toughest political fights of his life, facing off in a primary fight against the Tea Party-style challenger JD Hayworth. And he is doing it in Arizona, which has just passed a strict anti-illegal immigrant law so controversial the White House is taking it to court.All this means that McCain's...

Link to radio clip audio Length of radio clip: 60 seconds Text of radio clip, as follows: PALIN: Hi, this is Sarah Palin. This is the time when conservatives must stand up and fight against the Big Government policies of President Obama and Democrats in Congress. No one is a more forceful leader than my friend, John McCain. Every day John is fighting the President's radical plan to put Washington bureaucrats in charge of your health care. It's John McCain who is fighting for transparency and against backroom sweetheart deals. If we have a chance to stop the Democrats in...

Arizona Sen. John McCain has a message for illegal residents of his state: Go back where you came from. McCain, who has been veering right to try and win his Republican Senate primary against conservative former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, said on Tuesday that he supports immigration reform that would deport those living in the country illegally. "No amnesty. Many of them need to be sent back," McCain said during an interview on KQTH-FM in Tucson, Ariz. when describing how he would deal with illegal U.S. residents. McCain said he supported reform that would create a guest worker program, but was...

First, it was Sarah Palin. Then it was Arizona Right to Life and the National Rifle Association. Most recently, the revered National Review gave its imprimatur to McCain. When Hayworth entered the race in January, McCain was at his most vulnerable point in decades. Polling showed McCain had a lead within the margin of error and was struggling to redefine himself as a Republican loyalist. But polls now show McCain with a solid lead. Baker said the McCain campaign may have engineered a sort of domino effect: Each endorsement shows the next group that backing McCain is a safer bet...

In an EXCLUSIVE interview on “This Week,” Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., invited President Obama to the Arizona border. “[Sen.] Jon Kyl and I invite the President to come to the Arizona Sonora border. The violence is incredibly high,” McCain said. “The human smuggling and drug cartels are at a level of violence where 23,000 Mexican citizens have been murdered in the last few years. … There is a level of violence which has increased to a significant degree which makes the situation far different than it was in 2007,” he said. “We have to secure the borders,” McCain said. “We...

John McCain's campaign claimed the Arizona senator couldn't pick one of his former fundraisers — now headed to jail — out of a lineup. But new video unearthed by the campaign of his Republican primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, shows McCain standing next to convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein at events during McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. The 4-minute video captures McCain at a pair of events with Rothstein, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison in June after confessing to running a $1.2 billion fraud operation. Rothstein showers McCain with praise during both events, and at one point...

Idaho state Rep. Raul Labrador, already struggling to win national Republican support for his challenge to Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick, isn't backing away from harshly critical comments he made about his party's 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain. Labrador won his party's nomination in an upset against Vaughn Ward, a veteran who was endorsed by McCain after serving as the Arizona senator's Nevada state director in 2008. During a debate in late April, Labrador tore into McCain as an expedient and calculating politician. "McCain is the problem with the Republican Party," Labrador said to applause. "McCain is the kind of...

Link only, per FR posting rules

We contracted with Research 2000 to conduct polling and to provide us with the results of their surveys. Based on the report of the statisticians, it's clear that we did not get what we paid for.

PHOENIX (AP) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain says he disagrees with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's statements that most people crossing the U.S. southern border illegally are smuggling drugs, but he thinks she is doing a good job of standing up for her state. Brewer has said the motivation of "a lot" of the illegal immigrants is to enter the United States to look for work, but that drug rings press them into duty as drug "mules."

PHOENIX -- Senator John McCain, former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth, and conservative hopeful Jim Deakin will face off in the first of two debates on July 16 in Phoenix. The three candidates are vying for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by McCain. The debate will take place at KTVK-3TV Studios in Phoenix on Friday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m and will be simulcast on KTTU in Tucson and azfamily.com. A second debate to be held in Tucson is planned for the following night at KUAT PBS-6.

Glenn Beck goes after JD Hayworth over a 2007 infomercial that some have said will end his campaign. Apparently Beck agrees with this message and would rather have Big Government McCain in his place: UPDATE: I was rushing out the door when I posted this, so I wanted to come back and share a few thoughts on this. First, as much as I love Beck, I was fairly disappointed in the approach he took with this segment. Sure, I think JD Hayworth is slimy. He comes across to me as a used car salesman and sounds way to politician for...

(CNN) – Parts of a 2007 infomercial that features Arizona Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth are hitting Arizona airwaves today – but this time as part of a McCain campaign ad that slams Hayworth over his involvement with a company called National Grants Conferences. Hayworth, a radio host and former congressman, recorded the infomercial in 2007. The ad promised free information about "hundreds of billions of dollars in government funding" to individuals who attend a conference on the topic.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One Republican senator lost his job because he voted for the 2008 bank bailout. Two other GOP lawmakers may be next. Former President George W. Bush's lifeline to financial institutions is roiling GOP primaries, with Republicans who reluctantly supported it facing the ire of conservatives furious about budget-busting spending and tea partiers grousing that Wall Street came before Main Street. Economists credit the bailout with staving off deeper economic turmoil. Banks have paid back much of the money — plus interest. And GOP lawmakers were being loyal Republicans in following the wishes of their president. Yet some...

I'm a conservative Republican on over 9 out of 10 issues. I'm for almost everything conservatives and Republicans are for. However, SB1070 is a terrible bill. We need McCain's comprehensive immigration reform. The immigrants help many companies which in turn help the US economy. The bill does nothing but make people angry at each other. I also support McCain over Hayworth in the AZ senate race. We can't risk losing that seat to a Democrat if we except to pick up both houses in November.

J.D. Hayworth is throwing a birthday party for Joe Arpaio, the controversial Maricopa County sheriff, as a way to bolster his stuttering Senate campaign. Hayworth is selling tickets to the anti-illegal immigration advocate's "biggest best dang birthday dash" in order to raise money for his bid to unseat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "Sheriff Joe has been a wonderful public servant and a great friend of my campaign," Hayworth said in a statement. The even takes place Saturday at the Silver Spur Saloon and Eatery in Cave Creek, north of Phoenix.

The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging that J.D. Hayworth improperly used his former Phoenix-area radio show in his bid to unseat Arizona Sen. John McCain. Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a McCain ally, filed the campaign finance complaint in December. Woods argued that Hayworth's use of his three-hour radio show on KFYI amounted to an illegal "in-kind" donation from the station. Hayworth hadn't yet announced that he would challenge McCain in the Aug. 24 Republican primary. His last broadcast was in late January. Elections authorities dismissed Woods' complaint on June 10. The commission found that Hayworth's radio...

(snip) Sen John McCain, R-AZ, said he is "confident" Angle is someone who can take down Reid "because the people of Nevada are tired of him," noting the leader's sustained, low approval ratings. There is certainly no love lost between McCain, the GOP nominee for president in 2008, and Reid, who verbally bashed the Arizonan during the rough and tumble campaign. McCain said he is happy to campaign for Angle, though her campaign has not yet asked. A confident McCain said simply, "She will."(snip)

Phoenix, Az. (June 15) - U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Hayworth (R-Az.) today said he is dismayed by claims that Sen. John McCain does not know McCain's number one contributor who is now serving 50 years in prison. Hayworth called on McCain to admit he knows Scott Rothstein, the convicted Ponzi scheme artist, return all the dirty money he received over the years from investment scams, and promise to return and reject contributions from shady characters. "Sen. McCain likes to talk about how character matters, how political leaders must rise above even the appearance of impropriety," Hayworth said. "It's time his...