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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...

Results TBD 08/24/2010 Late PM PDT/MST.

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(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...

In a rapid turnaround trying to capitalize on a J.D Hayworth comment at a tea party rally earlier this week, U.S. Sen. John McCain released a new web video drumming Hayworth for reportedly preferring President Obama to the Republican incumbent senator. The video begins with a picture of President Obama and lists a litany of criticisms, from the 9.5 percent unemployment rate, to the $13 trillion national debt and the lawsuit against Arizona’s immigration law. The text interrupts with, “but J.D. says he’d rather have Barack Obama as president.”

"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...

Video at YouTube link.

Labor unions oppose the Arizona immigration law because some of them want to legalize then recruit illegals into their ranks, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday. McCain specifically mentioned the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as one union that wants to engage in the practice since it represents many people who work in the tourism industry, which he said employs many illegal immigrants. "They want to have them declared legal to recruit them into unions,” he said in an appearance on the conservative Michael Medved radio show.

Tonight, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will debate his primary challengers, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) and conservative "tea party" activist Jim Deakin in one of only two Republican primary debates. During the one hour debate, Hayworth will likely concentrate on McCain's 28 years in Congress with a focus on his position on immigration. Deakin said he will compare and contrast his approach in representing constituents to the "other two entrenched politicians." A McCain campaign spokesman said that the Senator "looks forward to a spirited discussion on the issues facing Arizonans." The LIVE debate will take place tonight at KTVK-TV...

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...

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.

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...

Phoenix, AZ (June 11) -- Sen. John McCain should immediately establish a fund for the victims of his largest contributor, Scott Rothstein, who this week was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running an elaborate $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The McCain-Rothstein Victim's Fund would reimburse people who were swindled out of their money. A total of $1.1 million of the stolen money ended up in McCain's campaign. "While McCain claims he gave a $9,200 of the money to charities, he used the rest and he needs to give it back to the rightful owners," said Mark Sanders, spokesman for...

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."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday said he thinks that Congress can get immigration reform done by March 2011, if not by the end of this year. While speaking at a fundraising event for the Irish Lobby for Immigration reform in New York while on recess, Schumer praised his former negotiating partner Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), noting that Graham took his cues from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "While Lindsey Graham is a great partner and he loves our bill," Schumer said, he really said his mentor was McCain, according to IrishCentral.com. (snip) In 2007, McCain attempted to push through a...

PHOENIX (AP) - John McCain's primary rival has released a Web video criticizing the Arizona senator for opposing tax cuts and supporting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Former congressman J.D. Hayworth's campaign released the Web video on Friday, a week after McCain began airing television ads criticizing Hayworth for supporting special funding requests known as earmarks. Hayworth's ad touts his work on tax cuts signed by President George W. Bush and criticizes McCain for opposing them. It closes with a narrator saying McCain "cares more about keeping his job in Washington than fighting for our jobs in Arizona."

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will host his first fundraiser for Arizona Sen. John McCain, facing a tough primary battle against former congressman J.D. Hayworth, at a McLean home later this month, advisers to the governor say. The June 14 fundraiser will be at the home of Bobbie Kilberg, president and chief executive of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Kilberg, an adviser to McDonnell, is a member of McDonnell's new government reform commission. Other hosts include businessman Fred Malek, the commission chairman who has been under fire in recent weeks because of questions that have been raised about his past, former...