McCain's Latest Profile In Courage - Facing Primary, He'll Leave Climate Issue To Lieberman, Graham

[hatrack]

Sen. John McCain once led the global warming debate on Capitol Hill, pledging to force repeated floor votes on cap-and-trade legislation until it passed. "Over time we will not be elected Miss Congeniality in the Senate, but we will win," the Arizona Republican said in April 2006. But McCain has gone on hiatus from the issue since losing the presidential election to Barack Obama. And he is likely to keep his distance even more over the next six months due to a primary challenge from a conservative former congressman that threatens to end his Senate career after four terms.

"The political climate has changed, and that's why you see this campaign-year conversion in John McCain," said J.D. Hayworth, who represented the Phoenix suburbs for 12 years, in an interview yesterday. Hayworth, 51, has built a following among Arizona conservatives since losing his seat in Congress in 2007 by hosting a local radio talk show. While the program went silent last month -- McCain's lawyers filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission that they were not getting equal air time -- Hayworth is pushing ahead with an anti-establishment, anti-incumbent message that caters to the Tea Party movement.

The official Hayworth campaign begins Monday, and the conservative said he plans to challenge McCain over his shifting record on a range of issues, including global warming. McCain's advocacy for a cap-and-trade program, he said, was well out of touch with the mood of the state's Republican voters. "I believe his famous quote is, 'I don't see how you can be a conservative and not support cap and trade.'" Hayworth said, referring to a line McCain often used during the presidential campaign. "Well, I sure can. And most Arizonans can."

EDIT

Like Hayworth, Don Bivens, the chairman of the Arizona state Democratic Party, said he is also hoping to capitalize on the different positions that McCain has taken during and after the White House campaign. "Since he's run for president, he's moved to the right on pretty much every issue," Bivens said, citing McCain's views on immigration and opposition to Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonya Sotomayor, even though he had voted previously to confirm another liberal member of the court, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/02/10/10climatewire-challenged-back-home-on-his-right-mccain-sta-91703.html

[gateley]

1. Yes, leave it to his fellow Republican friend, Lieberman. Jeezus. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Uh-oh--All the AZ Dems better vote for McCain 'cause Hayworth would be

so much worse.

Or do I have it wrong about why we're supposed to support all those Blue Dogs instead of voting for progressives?

Hey Rahm, whadda we sposed to do?

[Viking12]

5. Might a Hayworth primary victory open up an opportunity for a Dem to win?

I haven't followed AZ politics since I lived there years ago. I know it has shifted somewhat to the left since then. Might a mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging republican candidate like Hayworth open the field for an alternative to the RW stranglehold in the general election? Any AZ residents care to comment? Anyone know who is running on the blue ticket?

[phantom power]

6. Could be, although they keep re-electing Kyl (R-Tool), so maybe not...

I don't know who his Dem opponent would be.

[phantom power]

3. LCV used to score McCain at 25%.

Pretty weak, but Jon Kyl's score was 0%. I'm guessing Hayworth would be another 0%-er.

But that was before McCain sold the remaining portions of his soul in his failed bid for the presidency. Bet that stings.

[pscot]

4. Ole "Hot Start"

has a bad case of cold feet.