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SOMERS POINT — Master Commandant Richard Somers will have to wait a little longer to come home, if it happens at all. Efforts to repatriate the remains of the city’s namesake and U.S. Naval hero — killed with his crew aboard the USS Intrepid in 1804 in Tripoli Harbor during the First Barbary War — date to the 1840s. Spurred by this year's political upheaval in Libya, the movement seemed to finally have the congressional backing it needed to order the Department of Defense to take action regarding the return of the bodies of Somers and his men to the...

WASHINGTON — Two hundred and seven years after their deaths, 13 of the Navy’s first fallen heroes this week came closer than ever to returning home from the shores of Tripoli — thanks in part to the efforts of two veterans’ advocates from Western New York. But then Sen. John McCain got in the way.

For 25 years, war has fortified — and nearly destroyed — the ties binding John McCain and John F. Kerry. (snip) Concerned about what they see as an isolationist and fearful drift in both of their parties, Kerry (D-Mass.) and McCain (R-Ariz.) are advocating an even more forceful role for America in the world. (snip) Kerry and McCain are leading the fight in Congress to shore up support for U.S. action in Libya... (snip) The elder statesmen are also hoping to forge something resembling a Marshall Plan for the Middle East... (snip) But the Kerry-McCain partnership was derailed when Kerry...

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PHOENIX -- For the first time in state history, Arizona is holding its primary elections in August. Experts predict between 20 and 25 percent of registered voters will go to the polls before they close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. They think the heat and humidity, which have put the Valley under an extreme heat warning, will keep some people home. "That certainly is going to discourage people from going to the polls," said Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell. News/Radio 92.3 KTAR's Jim Cross, out and about as the polls opened at 6 a.m., found illegal immigration and SB1070, the state's...

(CNN) - At a Tea Party rally Sunday on the U.S.-Mexico border in support of tough immigration laws, Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth slammed his opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and turned McCain's words back on the veteran senator. On a ranch in Hereford, Arizona, and with the border fence visible several hundred yards behind him, Hayworth also praised Arizona's new immigration law that was signed by the state's governor, who has spent the last two days campaigning with McCain. Pulling a word from a McCain letter on immigration which first surfaced in April, Hayworth said it was time to...

<p>PHOENIX (AP) - Both were once considered vulnerable but recently have found stronger footing in their Republican primary races.</p> <p>Now, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer will campaign together at six events in five communities on Friday and Saturday.</p>

"Tea party" groups are planning a large rally on Sunday in Arizona, near the Mexican border, to support both the state's hard-line stance on illegal immigration and the political campaign of the local talk show host who is challenging Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Candidate J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned conservative radio commentator, is one of dozens of scheduled speakers for the morning rally on a remote ranch about 100 miles south of Tucson. Others include Sharron Angle, the Republican challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), and Sue Krentz, the wife of a rancher killed near the rally...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Senator John McCain said Tuesday that the Vietnam visit paid by the US warship named for his father and grandfather was a "historic and hopeful" sign for ties between the former foes. "Today's port call of the USS John McCain into Vietnam is a historic and hopeful occasion," the Arizona Republican said in a statement as the destroyer USS John S. McCain stopped in Vietnam's central port city of Danang. "Vietnam has become one of America's most important and most promising emerging partners in the Asia-Pacific region," McCain said. (snip) "Today's port call is certainly rich...

Timely use of campaign funds to buy advertising could be the key to overcoming incumbent John McCain's 20-point lead in the race for the Republican nomination, rival Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth said Tuesday in Ahwatukee Foothills. "Our ads are going up as his are coming down," Hayworth said following an appearance at an Ahwatukee Republican Women's club meeting at the Grace Inn, just south of Elliot Road on 51st Street. A Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday indicated McCain was leading Hayworth by a margin of 54-34. Hayworth attracted a crowd of about 80 people to the Tuesday evening event. Hayworth...

PHOENIX (AP) — Sen. John McCain's Republican primary challenger has released a new ad using McCain's own voice admitting to lying in the past. Former congressman J.D. Hayworth's campaign released the commercial Thursday. It uses McCain's voice from the recording of his 2002 book, in which McCain recalls publicly supporting South Carolina's right to fly the Confederate flag, even though he personally opposed it. McCain says on the recording: " ... it could come down to lying or losing. I chose lying." The ad suggests McCain is again lying about his record on illegal immigration.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday added their voices to GOP calls for congressional hearings into altering the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. (snip) McCain said Tuesday the he supports “the concept of holding hearings.” In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, McCain expanded on his terse comments from earlier in the day, saying that the Constitution is a “strong, complete and carefully crafted document that has successfully governed our nation for centuries and any proposal to amend the Constitution should receive extensive and thoughtful consideration.” “Congressional hearings are always...

U.S. Sen. John McCain has spent an unprecedented $16 million to date fending off a challenge from former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth. Hayworth, so far, has spent $1.5 million, according to campaign finance reports filed July 15. Hayworth’s spokesman, Mark Sanders, said the expenditure proves Hayworth is such a strong candidate that McCain pulled out all the stops with phone banking, mailers, radio and TV. “I think that the senator was really fearful of losing this race and he decided to just dump as much as he could into it to buy it,” he said. While candidates are allowed to...

McCain and Hayworth faced off in two debates over the weekend. On July 17, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona a debate hosted by KUAT PBS-6 was intended to be a debate on the issues facing Arizona. But at every opportunity, McCain threw out personal attacks on J.D., including calling him a "pig." This is a far different McCain than the one who debated and campaigned against Obama - and a far cry from what you would expect from a statesman. The reality is, McCain has been attacking J.D. with negative advertisements since before J.D. even entered the race. McCain has spent...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Fighting the last war is supposed to be a bad idea. For Sen. John McCain, it might end up being the path to reelection. As he faces a smashmouth Republican primary challenge in the shape of former congressman and radio talk show host J.D. Hayworth, McCain seems to be reliving his 2008 campaign experience--competing with a younger, more charismatic opponent whom he transparently does not like. He’s even still dodging criticism about an aimless and dull presidential campaign. And listening to McCain himself, it’s sometimes hard to tell that he’s not literally still running against Barack Obama.At...

Former President Bill Clinton and Senators John McCain and John Kerry were among the speakers at a July 15 reception in Washington, D.C., marking the 15th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam. (snip) ...McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, noted that Vietnam has become one of America’s most promising trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

By the time I was ten years old I already hated the government. When I was eight, they almost killed E.T. When I was nine, they wouldn’t let Kevin Bacon dance. At ten, I watched Rambo attempt to bring home prisoners of war from Vietnam only to be refused and left for dead by government bureaucrats. Long after outgrowing my concern for aliens and dancing rights, the cheesy, over-the-top 1985 “Rambo” movie still stuck with me because the plot was at least plausible. Would our government knowingly leave POWs behind? Did they? In the introduction to a symposium in the...

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...

The current debate in Arizona over illegal immigration, fueled by a new law that will make it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in the state, will propel the drive to unseat long-time senator and former presidential candidate John McCain, his Republican primary challenger predicted on Monday. J.D. Hayworth, who plans to submit a petition with 11,000 signatures later on Monday to get his name on the ballot for the Aug. 24 Republican primary for the Arizona Senate seat, said "the momentum is on my side." "Arizonans are telling John McCain, 'Thank you for your service, but it is...

(snip) This is also an about-face on immigration reform for Graham because he has been pressing the White House to move forward on comprehensive reform on that issue as well. His move comes just one day after Obama called on both parties to pass immigration reform on the federal level in response to a new law in Arizona that will allow local police to stop individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants. Democrats privately charged Saturday that Graham was trying to scuttle immigration reform in order to protect his close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, from having to deal with a...