Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- So far, J.D. Hayworth's campaign to beat Sen. John McCain for the Republican nomination for McCain's seat in Arizona is looking like little more than a nuisance. A new Research 2000 poll sponsored by Daily Kos, out Friday, showed McCain beating Hayworth easily, 52-37. Meanwhile, McCain ended the first quarter of 2010 with $4.5 million in the bank, after raising more than $2.2 million this year so far. Hayworth announced that he raised more than $1 million, but didn't say exactly how much. (And one of his top advisors, Arizona public relations mogul Jason Rose, recently quit because...

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth’s all-but-official primary challenge to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has already started to reignite long-simmering tensions within the state’s Republican faithful. Those divisions — combined with both men’s reputation for bare-knuckle politics, a volatile electorate and a state in financial crisis — equal a recipe for one of the country’s fiercest political contests of 2010. (snip) Hayworth’s advisers say they are prepared to go head to head with McCain on spending issues. Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose said there is “hypocrisy” in McCain touting a conservative record on spending when he supported bailing out the banking and mortgage...

Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are jumping on the spending freeze bandwagon, calling on Congress to flatline discretionary spending—and they issued a challenge to the president the day after the White House proposed its own three-year budget freeze. "If the president is serious—and I believe he is—he should also say tomorrow night he will veto the first appropriations bill that comes to his desk that has an earmark on it," McCain said. The Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010, which Bayh and McCain hope to introduce to the Senate later this week, includes provisions to install a spending...

Presidential nominee in 2008 faces GOP primary fight. BY JOSEPH WEBER Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, said in an interview Monday that his planned primary challenge to Sen. John McCain will portray the four-term incumbent as a not-so-conservative Republican who has "enabled" President Obama and his failed economic and security policies. "I'm giving Arizona Republicans a clear choice between a consistent, common-sense conservative . . . or someone who describes himself as a maverick but is a moderate," the outspoken Mr. Hayworth told The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show. Mr. Hayworth, 51, quit his job Friday as...