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Like a proud father looking to relinquish control of the family business, Sen. John McCain is pushing soft-spoken Sen. Rob Portman to take a more assertive leadership role on Capitol Hill. Long impressed with Portman’s policy expertise and agreeable demeanor — “It’s a trait I wish I had more of,” the often-prickly Arizona Republican said — McCain strongly urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to appoint the Ohioan to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction and continues to encourage his freshman GOP colleague, at times rather strongly, to be more aggressive. This isn’t the first time that McCain, his...

PHOENIX—An ebullient John McCain celebrated his resounding GOP Senate primary win with Gov. Jan Brewer, Sen. Jon Kyl and the state’s Republican congressional delegation at a unity fundraiser Friday night. Conspicuously absent: former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, whom McCain soundly defeated Tuesday following a bitter and acrimonious campaign. Organizers said he received an invitation to the event, just as others losing candidates did, but Hayworth claims the opposite. “I never received an invitation – nothing ever crossed my desk,” the former six-term congressman told POLITICO Saturday.

The Hill runs a report crediting Sarah Palin for her many Republic primary victories. Before conservatives take too much pleasure in such news, read how she is credited with helping sweep John McCain to victory. Palin traveled to Arizona and made numerous campaign appearances with McCain, bringing him the Tea Party creds he so desperately needed to undercut the fact that he is a nearly three-decades-long, left-leaning Washington insider. That Palin chose to conveniently back McCain over conservative former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth is a truth that should not soon be forgotten. Her help, McCain’s falsely running to the right,...

Two days after being trounced in the Arizona GOP Senate primary, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth still hasn’t called Sen. John McCain to congratulate him. And it’s not as if Tuesday night’s outcome was in doubt for very long. McCain eviscerated Hayworth by 24 percentage points and The Associated Press called the race not even a full two hours after the polls closed. The four-term senator quickly took the stage at the downtown Phoenix Convention Center to declare victory and make it an early night. But the McCain campaign is still a bit surprised it never heard from Hayworth, a former...

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.”

Video at link.

Arizona Sen. John McCain’s re-election campaign has gained an important endorsement from an influential conservative publication, National Review. “This magazine has not always agreed with Sen. John McCain’s judgments,” the endorsement on National Review’s website notes. “But there are three considerations that militate against dumping McCain for his primary challenger, former congressman J.D. Hayworth.” The first is that McCain has consistently voted on the conservative side on important issues — he has never supported a broad-based tax hike, voted for every conservative Supreme Court nominee, and has a long pro-life record. Second, McCain has unmatched credibility on national security and...

Editor: I keep getting “Political” flyers in the mail, robo-phone calls, along with hearing and seeing advertisements by the McCain campaign about what a spendthrift JD Hayworth was as a Congressional Representative. I am sure that JD does not have a ‘war chest’ like “McCain’s Millions” so, I just want to mention some things about the “Legislative Process” that is intentionally overlooked in the advertisements. In order for the legislators to vote on anything, the Legislation is put together as a “Bill” in the House or Senate. When I say “Put Together” I am talking in part about the grouping...

(CNN) – Parts of a 2007 infomercial that features Arizona Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth are hitting Arizona airwaves today – but this time as part of a McCain campaign ad that slams Hayworth over his involvement with a company called National Grants Conferences. Hayworth, a radio host and former congressman, recorded the infomercial in 2007. The ad promised free information about "hundreds of billions of dollars in government funding" to individuals who attend a conference on the topic.

In his August Senate primary against John McCain, former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth touts himself as "Mr. Conservative." But in 2007, after losing his House seat the previous year, the former talk show host rented himself out as a pitchman in a TV infomercial recruiting viewers to spend at least $1,000 for "seminars" on how to apply for federal grants they wouldn't have to pay back.

Jim Deakin: is a proud US Navy Veteran who has served this nation and sworn the oath to uphold our Constitution and to defend it. Mr. Deakin takes such an oath seriously and is prepared step up now, when the people of Arizona and this great Nation are in dire need of such commitment and resolve from those we select to represent us. Jim served on board the Reuben James FFG 57 under Ronald Reagan. He is an honored husband, and father of three, Jim is indeed a Patriot, and to those with whom he served alongside, an American Hero....

It appears the Senate campaign of J. D. Hayworth has hit a bump in the road. A big one: Republican Senate challenger J. D. Hayworth appeared in a 2007 television infomercial in which he helped convince viewers that they could rake in big bucks by attending seminars that would teach them how to apply for federal grants that they wouldn’t have to pay back. National Grants Conferences, the Florida-based company that hosted the classes and produced the informercial, has faced criticism from multiple state attorneys general and Better Business Bureaus. Hayworth, a former Arizona congressman who is running against incumbent...

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...

I'm a conservative Republican on over 9 out of 10 issues. I'm for almost everything conservatives and Republicans are for. However, SB1070 is a terrible bill. We need McCain's comprehensive immigration reform. The immigrants help many companies which in turn help the US economy. The bill does nothing but make people angry at each other. I also support McCain over Hayworth in the AZ senate race. We can't risk losing that seat to a Democrat if we except to pick up both houses in November.

The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging that J.D. Hayworth improperly used his former Phoenix-area radio show in his bid to unseat Arizona Sen. John McCain. Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a McCain ally, filed the campaign finance complaint in December. Woods argued that Hayworth's use of his three-hour radio show on KFYI amounted to an illegal "in-kind" donation from the station. Hayworth hadn't yet announced that he would challenge McCain in the Aug. 24 Republican primary. His last broadcast was in late January. Elections authorities dismissed Woods' complaint on June 10. The commission found that Hayworth's radio...

As we reported earlier, Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth released his much-anticipated list of donors to his Freedom in Truth trust -- something John McCain has been requesting for months -- but the McCain campaign says the list only contains half of the information it requested. "We appreciate the fact that after 45 days and constant pressure, Congressman Hayworth has finally taken one step toward disclosing the activities of his FIT Trust," says McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "However, Congressman Hayworth has only revealed half of the pertinent information -- the money coming into the trust, but not the money going...

(snip) Hayward should turn the tables on McCain. You see, aside from Obama, no one is more to blame for the continuing controversy over the missing birth certificate and the eligibility issue than is … John McCain. In fact, you could easily call John McCain "the father of the birther movement," or "the author of the birther movement." Why? Because McCain did something very strange during the 2008 campaign. When the press and obviously partisan groups like FactCheck.org and even McCain's colleagues in Congress raised questions about his constitutional eligibility to become president as a "natural born citizen," McCain quietly...

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign is attacking former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) again for being a "birther." A new Web video from McCain's campaign casts Hayworth as a loony right-winger who suggests the president was born in Kenya and thinks gay marriage will lead to marriage between men and horses. "I've committed to exposing the secret Kenyan brithplace of the president of the United States," the fake Hayworth says. "Second, I've stood up against the grave threat of man-horse marriage." The video is a parody of a Hayworth ad, pretending to promote the candidate's positions on those issues. McCain has...

Senator John McCain, whose reelection campaign has adopted a decidedly anti-maverick slant, released a new radio ad Wednesday assailing his primary challenger J.D. Hayworth’s proclivity for earmarking while in the House of Representatives. The 60-second spot features anti-pork crusader Congressman Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, who credits McCain with a career devoted to eliminating wasteful federal spending and aligns Hayworth with big spending Democrats. “Republicans, including Senator McCain’s opponent, lost their bearings on federal spending,” Flake said. “They loaded up bills with pork barrel projects, and the voters punished Republicans by putting Democrats in charge.”

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