Unfortunately Sarah must carry the weight of Juan McCain strung around her neck. She is between the proverbial rock and a hard spot. However I do believe the voters would punish disloyalty far more then loyalty to a bad conservative candidate. One can only hope that Az voters will solve her “McCain problem” for her. That would be nice.
By the same token, she draws the media toward him, putting Hayworth at a distinct disadvantage, because he's getting free media and Hayworth isn't.