Posted on 01/27/2010 11:45:56 AM PST by Maelstorm
Sen. John McCain’s Republican primary opponent may have spoken at Tea Party rallies, but that doesn’t mean he automatically has the support of the conservative grassroots groups in his quest to unseat the 2008 Republican presidential candidate.
Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth left his Phoenix talk radio show last week to challenge McCain for the Republican nomination to be Arizona’s senator. Even though Hayworth will likely market himself as the conservative alternative in the race — and draw some Tea Party supporters angry with McCain — not all groups are immediately putting their full resources towards him.
On Monday, when Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks released their list of more than 65 congressional races across the country with candidates they either support or want defeated, the Arizona Senate race was noticeably absent.
Matt Kibbe, president and chief executive of FreedomWorks in Washington, D.C., said the group isn’t targeting McCain because there are “some places where you can sort of make that difference and other places where you stay out.”
“John McCain has stepped up on health care and even cap and trade, which he has a very mixed history on. He’s … stepped up, and I think people respect that,” Kibbe said.
Lisa Miller of Alexandria, Va., who formed Tea Party WDC, said she’s unsure whether Tea Party groups will back Hayworth because he “waited for a fairly long time period before jumping in” the race.
“[McCain] would be a real challenge to overcome, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” she said of Hayworth’s chances.
Miller, who said she’d like to see McCain challenged, said she sent Hayworth, who was a sportscaster before turning to politics, an email telling him to “either declare or let someone else step forward.”
“We don’t want to allow any incumbent that has voted for tax and spending to go unchallenged on a primary level. Not a one. And that includes not only our party, but the Democratic Party,” Miller said.
Mark Meckler, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, said “the movement is there” for Hayworth, who came into Congress with the 1994 Republican Revolution and was defeated for re-election in 2006.
“Lots of people know who J.D. is, and I think he speaks to the movement,” he said.
Meckler said “people are challenging the establishment because they don’t like the way the establishment candidates have behaved.”
Among issues that Hayworth and Arizona Tea Party groups have criticized McCain for is his stance on immigration and support for a guest worker program.
“John McCain, I know, is behaving in a way that a lot people who consider themselves Republicans or conservatives don’t like,” Meckler said. “And you know, he’s the maverick. And hey — we like that — we’re mavericks too. But a lot of people don’t like his voting record.”
Joni Dahlstrom, president of Verde Valley Republican Women Federated and state coordinator for last April’s tea party events in Arizona, said that she’s not completely convinced that Hayworth is the Tea Party’s candidate of choice yet. She said Hayworth “better get on it” if he’s serious about a challenge. Dahlstrom also said she’s concerned that Hayworth “is another establishment guy, so it doesn’t really matter anyway.”
“I will not vote for or support McCain,” Dahlstrom said. “I’ll write in my dog first.”
Representatives for McCain did not immediately return a reporter’s request for comment.
Tapping into Tea Party resentment of McCain is something the campaign will have to do, Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose said.
“There is no question when you look at intensity of the support, J.D. Hayworth has it, Senator McCain does not,” he said.
In comparing Hayworth to McCain, Rose said “their records on taxes are black and white,” as “J.D. Hayworth has been a consistent conservative on reducing taxes and Senator McCain has famously flipped-flopped.”
Counting on Tea Party support, Rose said, factored into convincing Hayworth to jump into the race.
“We’re going to actively seek it, we hope for it, we want to earn their support, earn their passion…. and they will absolutely have a seat at the table and be critical to success in Arizona.”
House Vote: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll332.xml
Senate Vote: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459
Keep trying, genius. Keep the BS coming for McCain.
Like giving welfare to 13 to 30 million legalized former illegal aliens is free market. Because that is what a vote for McCain will get us. Armey is an open boarders bigot. What’s your delusion?
At least we know that McCain knows that FR exists.
Hayworth is definitely more conservative than McCain. If McCain is reelected he will trip over himself running to the other side of the aisle. Go Hayworth.
“Does it elect a true outsider? No, Hayworth voted for nearly all of Bush’s boondongle spending including the Medicare Drug Benefit which is now on track to bankrupt the country.”
All I read is about why we don’t want Mccain.
Why do we WANT Hayworth?
I say move along; there are other candidates, why take someone who has been squishy in some areas to replace someone who has been squishy in others?
Mickey Mouse could be running against McCain...he’ll still get more votes than McCain will.
He’ll be “slagging off the Republican party” no matter what happens to him.
Are chickens coming home to roost with a lot of the Bush bashing that goes on here via support of JD Hayworth for his support of President Bush for votes he cast during during President Bush’s administration?
Has anyone claimed that JD Haywoth is a “true outsider”?
Isn’t the claim only that he is a reliable conservative?
One that can be counted on to uphold the Constitution when it comes to so-called “immigration reform”?
Any group that’s supporting that traitorous bastard John McCain is not a legitimate “tea party” group. and that’s all I have to say about that
Piss on McCain.
I hope you’re right. Remember McCain said we had nothing to fear from an Obama presidency. He was supposed to be running against Obama when he said that. If I lived in Arizona I’d pick Hayworth ... or Mickey Mouse.
If this is true the Tea Party movement is best to stay out of the way.Exchanging one progressive for another is no way to build a movement. Brown's case was unusual, IMO the Tea Partiers should only back someone to make a statement.
So your willing to allow progressives to continue to frak up this country being most of us here know that McCain is a progressive...you know, despite their apparent issue differences, like Jack Squat Barry?
My question to you is this - Is the ‘Tea Party’ really split on the Hayworth/McCain primary choice? Or is this disinformation designed to split the movement, as the Dems just recently said they would be trying.
Can you provide more evidence than a blog report?
I am highly suspicious.
There are NOT any other viable candidates with a high profile who are in the run against McCain. I’ve met Deakin. Nice guy, true conservative, but he needs to earn his chops in the political arena, not come out of, literally nowhere, and run for the Senate, just because, he’s interested in politics, as his website state.
JD is eloquent, has been pounding the conservative message on his radio show, and simply put, we need new blood in the Senate. He has name recognition, otherwise McCain wouldn’t be campaigning against him specifically, even before JD officially announced his run.
These Senators get too cozy with each other and are too willing to scratch each other’s back, to the detriment of what is good for the country. For that reason alone, McCain has got to go. He puts his own self-interests and his cronies above his constituents and the nation.
It all comes down to illegal aliens for these clowns.
Hayworth has a 98% lifetime ACU rating. Is stellar on taxes, amnesty, defense, sovereignty, guns, global warming, life, etc, etc.
Who was the a**hole that played the marxist class warfare card during the deliberations over the Bush tax cuts? JD or McQueeg?
Who was the one that teamed with Bush and lindseed Graham to force feed a country 80% opposed to amnesty the most egregious amnesty ever? Hayworth or McQueeg?
Who pushed campaign finance reform which was not only unconstitutional, but a unilateral disarmament of the GOP? Hayworth or McQeeeg?
Who has campaigned now for the last 10 years on the Algorian fairy tale about global warming? Hayworth or McQueeg?
Who teamed with Joe Lieberman and others to push to getrid of “cheap handguns”? Hayworth or McQueeg?
Who has stated time an again they want to get rid of entire departments in the federal bureaucracy? Hayworth or McQueeg?
THis is just the tip of the iceberg, “my friends”
Watch the game being played. It’s called MOVE THE GOAL POSTS.
Has anyone claimed that JD Hayworth is a “true outsider”?
Isn’t the claim only that he is a reliable conservative?
One that can be counted on to uphold the Constitution when it comes to so-called “immigration reform”?
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