Posted on 08/26/2018 7:17:11 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
For more than a year, Cindy McCain kept Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) updated on her husband's valiant battle against brain cancer.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ended that final battle on Saturday, passing away just four days before his 82nd birthday, 32 years after winning his first term in the Senate.
Now it falls to Ducey to choose McCain's successor. The first-term governor has already begun considering a list of potential replacements, according to four Republicans either familiar with Ducey's thinking or close to those who have been involved in initial discussions.
But Ducey, both conscious of McCain's status as one of the nation's most respected statesmen and war heroes and nervous about his own reelection bid this November, has squelched speculation about who might inherit McCain's seat.
A spokesman in Ducey's office declined to comment. None of the Republicans familiar with Ducey's thinking agreed to speak on the record, in order to detail private and sensitive conversations.
Most speculation focused on three potential candidates: Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire, the director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs and the adjutant general of the state's Army and Air National Guards; Karrin Taylor Robson, a wealthy businesswoman whom Ducey appointed to the state Board of Regents in 2017; and Kirk Adams, a former state House Speaker who is now Ducey's chief of staff.
Several sources also pointed to former Sen. Jon Kyl (R), McCain's longtime seatmate who is now shepherding Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, and former Rep. John Shadegg (R), who left Congress in 2011.
The New York Times on Sunday added state Treasurer Eileen Klein (R) and Barbara Barrett, a former ambassador to Finland under President George W. Bush.
Ducey is said to be acutely aware of what Arizona's conservative activists -- those who most closely follow and approve of President Trump -- are thinking. Ducey needs those voters for his own reelection bid, and he is likely to consider his own political future, one that would benefit from a close relationship with Trump. Ducey is already close with Vice President Pence.
Those relationships mean that other potential Senate candidates once thought to be under consideration have fallen victim to political circumstance.
Cindy McCain, who may have served as a caretaker of her husband's seat, is no longer seen as a potential appointee. Grant Woods, John McCain's first congressional chief of staff and a candidate long seen as McCain's choice to take his seat, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, likely making him a nonstarter with the White House.
Several potential candidates who began jockeying for an appointment late last year were so public about their ostensibly private bids that they effectively played themselves out of contention. In a radio interview last year, Ducey said those who were "openly lobbying for this position, they've basically disqualified themselves by showing their true character."
Republicans close to Ducey interpreted his remarks as chin music meant for Rep. Paul Gosar (R), former Rep. Matt Salmon (R) and former state Sen. Kelli Ward (R).
Gosar, a hyper-conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus, is almost certainly a nonstarter, even before his overt campaigning for the seat angered Ducey. Salmon, now the chief lobbyist for Arizona State University, was seen as indelicate in sending out feelers about the possibility of winning the appointment. And Ward is likely to lose Tuesday's Republican primary to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R) to a more establishment rival, making her appointment unlikely.
Whomever Ducey chooses to replace McCain will serve in the Senate until 2020, when Arizona voters will choose someone to fill the two remaining years of the term McCain won in 2016.
Ducey said Saturday he would wait until McCain is buried before he names a successor. McCain will lie in state in both the Arizona and the U.S. Capitol, before he is buried at the U.S. Naval Academy's cemetery in Annapolis, Md.
Woods is the LAST person I want to see selected.
My sister used to babysit for them years ago and no, never met them but just thinking this guy has been mentioned makes so sick!
John Shadegg...that might not be a bad choice.
When did we AZ residents ever see/hear the McCain family doing things in the state? John was never around except when during an upcoming election to do a few townhall meetings and talk on the radio, attend sporting events.
I’ve heard Shaddegg is soft on immigration. This is really the battle in AZ, immigration. There are weak on border RINOs in control of the state R party due to McCain and Flake. The Phoenix moneyed uniparty crowd and the Mormons are not strong on immigration of borders.
Dude, Freddy Mercury ..
Thanks for that info as I hadn’t heard that.
Whomever he appoints, he will do so with McCain’s blessing which I believe has already been determined.
He’s smart to wait until after McCain is buried. Respectful, politically smart, and the Senate is in recess anyway.
John Shaddegg’s father, Steve Shaddegg, was one of BArry Goldwater’s close associates, worked on his presidential campaign, and later wrote a book about it.
It seems to me that Arizona is full of sand traps.
He may very well already be burning.
You can never tell or trust with the McLame crowd, they lie constantly, trying to hold onto power, floating things hoping that they become the reality on the ground.
There is a normative power to the actual, now that he is dead, Ducey may just reconsider a number of things. But if it is a McLame approved choice, then it will be a weak on border closet nevertrumper at best.
They’re back in session Monday afternoon, just in time to avoid an actual recess. I’d love for them to take another day so Trump could recess appoint everyone waiting. Unfortunately the Senate has not been in recess at all during Trump’s tenure. They send some lackey to bang the gavel every 3rd day.
Mongo only pawn in game of life.
Psha, that's nothing. You should see us Catholics!
That would only work if he appointed Ward, since McSally is poised to win the primary anyway. It would give people time to get used to Ward and let her run in 2020 as a sitting senator which would give her a better chance of winning.
You know you can’t appoint yourself
Ducey
Leave Megan and Cindy on the shelf
Ducey
I hope you use some MAGA rationale
Now here you are with the McCains
And their sycophants’ advice
You have a shot to reclaim
Two conservative seats, Doug Ducey!
excellent point
But Ducey, both conscious of McCain’s status as one of the nation’s most respected statesmen and war heroes
This sentence is a matter of opinion, and not mine!
We need to forget about McCain.
McCain died as a thin skinned Republican elitist,doing bitter things to President Donald Trump who is a great man elected for and by the People. McCain was Obama’s dimmi , doing Obama’s bidding to support the jihad and ISIS.Obama used McCain like a common street whore who was left giggling because she had a few extra campaign bucks in her purse. McCain clad himself in the our flag to actually betray our country.And IMHO McCain knew exactly what Obama was using him for.
McCain was a decent enough politician until he lost the 2002 GOP presidential nomination to GW Bush. After that he was incredibly bitter.That is when he should have retired in 2002 because subsequently he was an agent provocateur to the GOP and actually sometimes engaged in treasonous activity internationally.He was strangely quiet on the Benghazi fiasco, when he could have led the charge.
One lurid example of McCain’s treasonous conduct was the bogus arms deal he brokered in Syria with the Magic Negro’s help, about 500 million dollars of small arms to a Syrian group of rebels of about 12 men who McCain had met for a photo op.The arms were sold on the black market in Syria as fast as they arrived, to ISIS and the Jihad, later to be used against our US soldiers and allies. The arms dealers in McCains pocket tickled his scrotum on that one, and McCain once again became Obama’s dimmi.Most Americans do not even know about this fiasco or the methods Obama used to support the jihad instead of fighting it.Obama used McCain to actually support ISIS.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/five-hundred-million-down_b_7764280.html
McCain did little or nothing to help the cause against liberal fascism ,promoted and implemented by Obama.McCain could have been heroic in 2008 campaign but he fizzled, his powder wet instead of dry.Therefore the left now cynically lauds Senator McCain’s life, the way that Muslims laud their dimmis.
This article by Laz shows a genuinely true picture of McCain:
“Fawning Over McCain”
Original Content | 8/26/2018 | By Laz A. Mataz
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3682294/posts?q=1&;page=151
How much time is left on Senator McCain’s term?
Someone voted for the guy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.