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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...

(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.

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...

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...

Sen. John McCain must personally and publicly explain why he allowed his staff to lie to the media about returning all $1.1 million given to his presidential campaign by a convicted felon; if he accepted even more from the felon's law partners; and why he has not donated all the dirty money to charity as his campaign claimed. Federal authorities have been investigating 30 lawyers who worked in the now-defunct firm of Scott Rothstein, who yesterday was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running an elaborate Ponzi scheme. According to his lawyer and media reports, the convicted felon is...

A now-disbarred Florida lawyer who admitted to orchestrating a huge Ponzi scheme gave more than $180,000 to Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, contributions that McCain's Senate rival is now making an issue in their competitive primary. Scott Rothstein was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison after he confessed to running a $1.2 billion fraud using faked legal settlements. Rothstein also was a key contributor and fundraiser who bundled more than $500,000 in campaign contributions for McCain's 2008 race, according to the campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics.

Sen. John McCain will debate GOP rival J.D. Hayworth this summer, his campaign spokesman said Wednesday. Brian Rogers, McCain’s campaign communications director, said a newspaper report indicating McCain was “busy with his job as a senator” and would not debate Hayworth was “not accurate.” “What we said all along is that Sen. McCain will obviously debate — he’s always debated,” Rogers said, adding, but “he has a day job. Folks want him doing his job during the week, so he doesn’t have, unlike Congressman Hayworth, unlimited time on his hands.” Hayworth, who served 12 years in the House before he...

PHOENIX (AP) - John McCain's re-election campaign is releasing its second set of television and radio ads attacking the Arizona's senator's primary opponent for his ties to Washington. The ads point out that former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth registered as a lobbyist in 2008, a year after he lost his re-election bid. Hayworth is challenging McCain in the Republican primary and casting himself as a conservative Washington outsider. But the ads challenge that image, with a narrator saying: "Outsider? A lobbyist is as inside Washington as it gets."

Those who are familiar with this site will recall that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been on the Seeing Red AZ blogroll since the inception of this website in June 2007. Take a good hard look, because the link will soon be coming down. Yesterday we posted the endorsements U.S. Senate candidate J. D. Hayworth received from former NRA President Bob Corbin and from theGun Owners of America. Yet the NRA, which has previously referred to John McCain as “one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the second amendment,” inexplicably gave McCain their endorsement. In endorsing...

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Sen. John McCain's re-election campaign plans to launch new radio and television ads that blast his primary opponent for supporting special funding requests known as earmarks. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told The Associated Press late Wednesday that the ads would go up statewide on Thursday. He declined to disclose how much the campaign was spending on the ads targeting former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

“Senator Obama is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” – John McCain – Oct. 10, 2008, Town Hall in Lakeville, Minn. U.S. Senator John McCain must be confident Arizona voters have amnesia regarding his approval of Barack Obama’s presidential timber. Never mind that Barry Soetoro, aka, Barack Obama had a prolonged record of close associations involving socialists, communists, militants, racist clerics, labor unions, ACORN and the corrupt Chicago political machine reminiscent of Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall. Forget how Senator McCain continues to confer the President...

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Link only, per FR posting rules

As we reported earlier, Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth released his much-anticipated list of donors to his Freedom in Truth trust -- something John McCain has been requesting for months -- but the McCain campaign says the list only contains half of the information it requested. "We appreciate the fact that after 45 days and constant pressure, Congressman Hayworth has finally taken one step toward disclosing the activities of his FIT Trust," says McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "However, Congressman Hayworth has only revealed half of the pertinent information -- the money coming into the trust, but not the money going...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is fighting back hard against claims made by his primary opponent J.D. Hayworth that he is soft and wavering on immigration reform —calling Hayworth's comments "dishonest," "disgraceful" and "despicable." Hayworth, who attacked the former presidential nominee on Arizona television, accused McCain of flip-flopping on the issue of amnesty for electoral gain after news broke during the weekend that an illegal immigrant allegedly killed an Arizona citizen and the senator called for troops to be deployed to the state's border. The McCain campaign acted swiftly, with communications director Brian Rogers blasting the following release: "It is despicable...

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Hillary Clinton will not easily be mistaken for Sir Winston Churchill, but our nation’s Secretary of State borrowed a metaphor from old “Winnie” recently when lecturing on the importance of freedom on the Internet. As the former British Prime Minister warned of the communist “iron curtain” descending on Eastern Europe at the beginning of the Cold War, Secretary Clinton has warned of an “information curtain” falling in those nations where governments have used modern technology to suppress and plunder, rather than facilitate, the flow of information among peoples and nations. The Secretary made her comments in Washington on January 21,...

J.D. Hayworth continues to snipe at U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over the senator’s 2008 vote for the Wall Street and big bank bailout. Hayworth’s campaign cited campaign finance numbers from 2003-08 showing executives and employees from investment and commercial banks that benefited from Troubled Asset Relief Program donated $1.7 million to McCain’s runs for Senate and for president. That list includes JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Inc. The Hayworth camp also said American International Group executives and employees donated $74,000 to McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. “John McCain likes to talk tough about...

U.S. Sen. John McCain sent out a statement Monday from supporter and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley asking former Congressman J.D. Hayworth to pony up the names of donors helping him clear his legal bills. The “Freedom in Truth” trust was set up to help Hayworth erase about $140,000 in legal debt for Hayworth, who retained legal counsel to deal with an investigation by the Justice Department into his connection to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Romley said voters deserve to know who’s helping and by how much. “Arizonans need to be assured that Mr. Abramoff and his associates have...