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PHOENIX -- For the first time in state history, Arizona is holding its primary elections in August. Experts predict between 20 and 25 percent of registered voters will go to the polls before they close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. They think the heat and humidity, which have put the Valley under an extreme heat warning, will keep some people home. "That certainly is going to discourage people from going to the polls," said Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell. News/Radio 92.3 KTAR's Jim Cross, out and about as the polls opened at 6 a.m., found illegal immigration and SB1070, the state's...

(CNN) - At a Tea Party rally Sunday on the U.S.-Mexico border in support of tough immigration laws, Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth slammed his opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and turned McCain's words back on the veteran senator. On a ranch in Hereford, Arizona, and with the border fence visible several hundred yards behind him, Hayworth also praised Arizona's new immigration law that was signed by the state's governor, who has spent the last two days campaigning with McCain. Pulling a word from a McCain letter on immigration which first surfaced in April, Hayworth said it was time to...

<p>PHOENIX (AP) - Both were once considered vulnerable but recently have found stronger footing in their Republican primary races.</p> <p>Now, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer will campaign together at six events in five communities on Friday and Saturday.</p>

"Tea party" groups are planning a large rally on Sunday in Arizona, near the Mexican border, to support both the state's hard-line stance on illegal immigration and the political campaign of the local talk show host who is challenging Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Candidate J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned conservative radio commentator, is one of dozens of scheduled speakers for the morning rally on a remote ranch about 100 miles south of Tucson. Others include Sharron Angle, the Republican challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), and Sue Krentz, the wife of a rancher killed near the rally...

Timely use of campaign funds to buy advertising could be the key to overcoming incumbent John McCain's 20-point lead in the race for the Republican nomination, rival Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth said Tuesday in Ahwatukee Foothills. "Our ads are going up as his are coming down," Hayworth said following an appearance at an Ahwatukee Republican Women's club meeting at the Grace Inn, just south of Elliot Road on 51st Street. A Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday indicated McCain was leading Hayworth by a margin of 54-34. Hayworth attracted a crowd of about 80 people to the Tuesday evening event. Hayworth...

PHOENIX (AP) — Sen. John McCain's Republican primary challenger has released a new ad using McCain's own voice admitting to lying in the past. Former congressman J.D. Hayworth's campaign released the commercial Thursday. It uses McCain's voice from the recording of his 2002 book, in which McCain recalls publicly supporting South Carolina's right to fly the Confederate flag, even though he personally opposed it. McCain says on the recording: " ... it could come down to lying or losing. I chose lying." The ad suggests McCain is again lying about his record on illegal immigration.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday added their voices to GOP calls for congressional hearings into altering the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. (snip) McCain said Tuesday the he supports “the concept of holding hearings.” In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, McCain expanded on his terse comments from earlier in the day, saying that the Constitution is a “strong, complete and carefully crafted document that has successfully governed our nation for centuries and any proposal to amend the Constitution should receive extensive and thoughtful consideration.” “Congressional hearings are always...

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Sen. John McCain hasn't always talked tough on immigration. That haunted his presidential ambitions, and now his political survival hinges on whether he can show that his conversion is genuine. It hasn't been easy. Boycotts, vigils and a legal fight over the state's attempted crackdown on illegal immigrants have kept voters attuned to each nuance in his run for re-election. "Since 2007, I've said we have to secure the border first. I said it in 2008 and 2009 and 2010," McCain told 120 people at a town hall meeting in suburban Phoenix. Leaning against the back wall...

U.S. Sen. John McCain has spent an unprecedented $16 million to date fending off a challenge from former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth. Hayworth, so far, has spent $1.5 million, according to campaign finance reports filed July 15. Hayworth’s spokesman, Mark Sanders, said the expenditure proves Hayworth is such a strong candidate that McCain pulled out all the stops with phone banking, mailers, radio and TV. “I think that the senator was really fearful of losing this race and he decided to just dump as much as he could into it to buy it,” he said. While candidates are allowed to...

McCain and Hayworth faced off in two debates over the weekend. On July 17, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona a debate hosted by KUAT PBS-6 was intended to be a debate on the issues facing Arizona. But at every opportunity, McCain threw out personal attacks on J.D., including calling him a "pig." This is a far different McCain than the one who debated and campaigned against Obama - and a far cry from what you would expect from a statesman. The reality is, McCain has been attacking J.D. with negative advertisements since before J.D. even entered the race. McCain has spent...

It was apparent last night why McCain has only agreed to participate in two Senate debates with JD Hayworth, because of the awkwardness attempting to explain his flip-flopping back to the right now that it is an election year. Both debates between the two candidates are taking place well into the primary, after McCain has had months to spend $6 million in smear attack ads against JD. $5 million of that was leftover from prior campaigning, including $1.1 million from convicted Ponzi scheme criminal Scott Rothstein - the top contributor to two of his 2008 presidential campaign funds. Unlike other...

Former President Bill Clinton and Senators John McCain and John Kerry were among the speakers at a July 15 reception in Washington, D.C., marking the 15th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam. (snip) ...McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, noted that Vietnam has become one of America’s most promising trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

PHOENIX - In the race for U.S. Senate, J.D. Hayworth is accusing John McCain of flip-flopping on the issue of illegal immigration. Does McCain want border security or a path to citizenship for illegals -- or both? McCain once championed comprehensive immigration reform that would allow people here illegally a path to citizenship. "The present situation with broken borders and 11 million people that are in America without citizenship is unacceptable," he said on the campaign trail. Now McCain says border security must come first before tackling what to do with the 12 million illegals already living in the u.s.....

The Republican 'maverick' bends in the wind of Tea Party-style politicsWhen does being a maverick turn into a shameless flip-flopper? Pretty much about now, according to many observers of the long and storied political career of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.Senator McCain, pictured, is now caught in one of the toughest political fights of his life, facing off in a primary fight against the Tea Party-style challenger JD Hayworth. And he is doing it in Arizona, which has just passed a strict anti-illegal immigrant law so controversial the White House is taking it to court.All this means that McCain's...

Illegal Immigration: Los Angeles' city council votes to boycott Arizona for its enforcement of existing federal law. No word yet on how China's human rights violations will be treated. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The next time the Lakers play Los Suns in Phoenix, traveling fans are advised to bring their own snacks. The L.A. City Council voted 13-1 on Wednesday to economically boycott the state of Arizona for daring to protect its borders against the crime, violence and illegal immigration that recently took the life of an Arizona rancher and has made Phoenix the kidnapping capital of...

One-time moderate Arizona senator keeps step with the Tea Party and gets tough on illegal immigration. John Ladd points to the piles of empty water and Coke bottles, a yellow blanket and numerous other bits of debris abandoned on his cattle ranch in Cochise county, near Tombstone, Arizona. The sprawling estate, stretching 10 miles along the US-Mexico border, is a favoured route for those making the illegal, dangerous and often fatal, journey to what they hope is a bright new future. Ladd recalls waking up one morning in 2004 and finding about 900 Mexicans milling about on his land. "You...

Immigration: Arizona moves to protect its citizens from a raging border war, and the administration and its activist supporters cry racism. Why is antelope protection more important than protecting American lives?

The current debate in Arizona over illegal immigration, fueled by a new law that will make it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in the state, will propel the drive to unseat long-time senator and former presidential candidate John McCain, his Republican primary challenger predicted on Monday. J.D. Hayworth, who plans to submit a petition with 11,000 signatures later on Monday to get his name on the ballot for the Aug. 24 Republican primary for the Arizona Senate seat, said "the momentum is on my side." "Arizonans are telling John McCain, 'Thank you for your service, but it is...

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(snip) This is also an about-face on immigration reform for Graham because he has been pressing the White House to move forward on comprehensive reform on that issue as well. His move comes just one day after Obama called on both parties to pass immigration reform on the federal level in response to a new law in Arizona that will allow local police to stop individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants. Democrats privately charged Saturday that Graham was trying to scuttle immigration reform in order to protect his close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, from having to deal with a...