Free Republic

An email from the Hayworth campaign today featured his first TV advertisement featuring his wife Mary Hayworth. She hits McCain pretty good, and truthfully, mentioning how he's sold out Arizona on immigration, bailouts and tax increases. And, she hits McCain pretty hard for his negative ads directed at JD for the past few months.

First, it was Sarah Palin. Then it was Arizona Right to Life and the National Rifle Association. Most recently, the revered National Review gave its imprimatur to McCain. When Hayworth entered the race in January, McCain was at his most vulnerable point in decades. Polling showed McCain had a lead within the margin of error and was struggling to redefine himself as a Republican loyalist. But polls now show McCain with a solid lead. Baker said the McCain campaign may have engineered a sort of domino effect: Each endorsement shows the next group that backing McCain is a safer bet...

It’s been over a month since President Barack Obama called Arizona's new immigration law "misguided" and during a news conference Thursday, he gave American's several reasons why. "Our laws should respect the families following the rules instead of splitting them a part," Obama said. The president not only ruled out mass deportations, but provided an outline for what his plan for comprehensive immigration reform would look like. "We have to demand responsibility for people living here illegally. They must be required to admit they broke the law, they should be required to register, pay their taxes, pay a fine and...

I haven’t been keeping score, but my sense has been that National Review stays out of Republican congressional primary races, at least most of the time. This is a good thing. It reflects an ethos focused on the strategic direction of the conservative movement rather than tactical politics. It underscores that issues are more critical to us than personalities. As a practical matter, moreover, it avoids diminishing the magazine’s prestige. A candidate who wins despite NR’s endorsement of his opponent could become hostile — and less open to our ideas — especially because he knows NR’s endorsement of the other...

haven’t been keeping score, but my sense has been that National Review stays out of Republican congressional primary races, at least most of the time. This is a good thing. It reflects an ethos focused on the strategic direction of the conservative movement rather than tactical politics. It underscores that issues are more critical to us than personalities. As a practical matter, moreover, it avoids diminishing the magazine’s prestige. A candidate who wins despite NR’s endorsement of his opponent could become hostile — and less open to our ideas — especially because he knows NR’s endorsement of the other guy...

Matthew Lesko and Miss Cleo make appearances in John McCain's latest Web video poking fun at his Republican challenger's role as an infomercial pitchman. McCain's re-election campaign on Tuesday released the video featuring half-famous stars from late-night television. The video also recalls a handful of gaffes that have put J.D. Hayworth in an uncomfortable spotlight. The ad follows the revelation last week that Hayworth filmed a 2007 infomercial pitching the services of a Florida company accused of taking advantage of its customers. Hayworth says he didn't properly research the company. His campaign on Monday released three videos of Hayworth addressing...

What has happened to National Review? The magazine started by William F. Buckley that once stood for conservative libertarian principles has gone out of its way twice now to endorse liberal Republican John McCain for Senate in the Republican primary over the very conservative JD Hayworth. Hayworth has a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 98% over his 12 years in Congress; the same lifetime rating as the most conservative Senator in Congress, Jim DeMint. McCain has an 81% lifetime rating. JD clearly comes from the conservative wing of the Republican Party, McCain comes from the liberal wing....

That this magazine has not always agreed with Sen. John McCain’s judgments is an understatement. For a few years at the start of the decade, not an issue went by, it seemed, without our feeling obligated to criticize the Arizona Republican. That conservatives in his state should be in the market for a senator who agrees with them more consistently is not remarkable. If McCain had a different challenger, we might think differently. But, taken together, these considerations move us to suggest that Arizona Republicans nominate Senator McCain. If ever we needed legislators who favor a resolute foreign policy and...

The McCain campaign has been brutally attacking JD Hayworth for appearing in an informercial on how to apply for government grants. Hypocritically, McCain's own Senate website prominently features a lengthy list of government grants to apply for. It is disturbing that due to the $5 million war chest the McCain campaign already had when it came into the Senate race, plus threatening people away who dare to support Hayworth, that the McCain campaign has been able to divert attention in the race to the 1% difference Hayworth shares with Senator Jim DeMint, the most conservative member in all of Congress....

Former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, the Republican primary challenger to Sen. John McCain in Arizona, said he had made a “mistake’’ in acting as a spokesman for a company that has been criticized for misleading consumers, the Associated Press reported. In an infomercial taped in 2007, the National Grants Committee invited viewers to a seminar to learn how to access “hundreds of billions” of government grant money. “It is for real!” Hayworth assured viewers, waiving his hands for emphasis. “Now, I understand the skepticism, in part because President Regan used to say the greatest contradiction ever uttered was ‘I’m from...

U.S. Sen. John McCain and challenger J.D. Hayworth will get some face-to-face time next month amid their contentious Republican primary battle. The two will meet July 16 in Phoenix in a debate hosted by KTVK Channel 3 and July 17 in Tucson in an event put on by PBS affiliate KUAS. Hayworth has criticized McCain for his support of immigration reform the Troubled Assets Relief Program bailout in 2008. McCain has focused on Hayworth’s ethics, hammering the former congressman for appearing in 2007 informercials promoting Florida company that promised customers greater access to government grant money. That company was subject...

John McCain leads J.D. Hayworth by 23 points.........

Longtime Senator John McCain continues to lead Arizona’s Republican Primary by double digits but remains in the same narrow range of support he’s drawn since January............

U.S. Sen. John McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer continue to hold leads over their opponents, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll. In a June 16 poll of 707 likely Republican primary voters, McCain is leading the three-way primary with 47 percent support. Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth stands at 36 percent, while veteran Jim Deakin has 7 percent. While the poll shows a continuing lead — McCain was at 52 percent to Hayworth’s 40 percent last month — a longstanding political rule-of-thumb indicates incumbents are vulnerable when they slip below the 50 percent mark.

He still tells the story about the call he got at 2 a.m. from the woman in Chandler who was upset about changes in her garbage pick up, and the ossified joke concerning two Irish brothers (“The only ethnic group in America you can still joke about”) boozed up at a bar. Just as he did in 2008, and 2000, and most likely in the tender years of his earliest campaigns here — long before “that one,” maverick, and not-a-maverick — he takes extra time for veterans, freshly scrubbed little kids and older women who wait patiently at the back...

I understand why many Arizona Republicans would want to dump John McCain for a more conservative Senator, but I've never understood those who argue that J.D. Hayworth is the conservative who should replace McCain. Hayworth, after all, was a top recipent of donations linked to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and was a reliable vote for President Bush's big government agenda. The weakness of Hayworth's claim to be a small government conservative was brought into sharper focus with the release of [a] 2007 infomercial that Hayworth recorded for the National Grants Conference, which offers seminars on how to people can get...

Alternate headline: “McCain rival maybe a little too maverick-y.” John McCormack’s touting this as a potential campaign-ender, but is it really? It’s FUBAR, sure, but hasn’t JD already been thoroughly kookified by McCain’s attack ads, including one describing him as among the very dumbest members of Congress? Crankishness was priced into the value of his political stock long ago. Besides, most of the people who are still with him at this point are surely diehard McCain-haters, prone to shiver at the mere mention of the word “Maverick.” Hayworth could don a Lesko jacket and jaunty Willy Wonka top hat and...

Phoenix, AZ (June 16) - In a unanimous decision, three Democrats andthree Republicans on the Federal Election Commission, threw out afrivolous complaint by a shill for Sen. John McCain. Former Attorney General Grant Woods filed a complaint claimingthen-unannounced U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) was usinghis radio show in December of 2009 to further his political aspirations. Hayworth was not a candidate for office and did not announce hiscandidacy until months later. At the time Woods, who once served asMcCain's chief of staff, freely admitted he talked to McCain about thecomplaint. "It was no surprise that Sen. Mc Cain wanted...

From the town of Goshen to Mt. Kisco – Congressional District 19 – representing five counties North of New York City is the premier “suburb” of the “City.” Residents there are friendly, fervently patriotic and definitely displeased with the way the Obama Administration and its parroting Democrat -controlled Congress are governing domestic and foreign affairs. It is the same rallying cry from across the Nation – the People are in an uproar – Washington D.C. continues to ignore calls for restraint and Americans are more than displeased actually, from New York to Arizona, they are FED UP with the constant...

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.