Free Republic

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth’s all-but-official primary challenge to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has already started to reignite long-simmering tensions within the state’s Republican faithful. Those divisions — combined with both men’s reputation for bare-knuckle politics, a volatile electorate and a state in financial crisis — equal a recipe for one of the country’s fiercest political contests of 2010. (snip) Hayworth’s advisers say they are prepared to go head to head with McCain on spending issues. Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose said there is “hypocrisy” in McCain touting a conservative record on spending when he supported bailing out the banking and mortgage...

At turns charming about his New York mayoral stint then chippy toward President Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani delivered a red-meat speech on leadership to a receptive Utah audience Wednesday before a direct question made him pause. "Could there be a Romney-Giuliani ticket in 2012?" Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, asked the failed 2008 presidential candidate. Giuliani waited for the anxious laughter to fade, then framed a toothy grin. "There could be anything in 2012, who knows?" he told a crowd of nearly 1,000 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. "Things change in American politics almost instantly."