McCain faces serious primary challenge for Senate bid

Politics

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona), in various National Congress of American Indians appearances. Photos © Indianz.Com

For the first time since joining the U.S. Senate in 1987, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) is facing a strong primary challenger in former Congressman J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona).

Polls show McCain, a two-term chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, in a virtual tie against Hayworth, who was one of the strongest proponents of tribal sovereignty when he served in the U.S. House. So McCain is taking a hard stance against Hayworth, who canceled his radio program in light of Federal Election Commission complaints filed by McCain's allies.

"I'm not saying he couldn't say anything he wanted to, but it's clear that was a political campaign he was running on the radio station," McCain told The Wall Street Journal.

McCain supporters previously commissioned a poll that linked Hayworth to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. And now McCain is calling on Sarah Palin, the popular former governor of Alaska who was his vice presidential running mate in 2008, to help him campaign in Arizona.

"Anybody who doesn't take J.D.'s race against McCain seriously is crazy," Bruce Merrill, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, told the Journal.

Get the Story:
McCain Feeling Primary Heat From His Right Flank (The Wall Street Journal 2/4)