J.D. Hayworth Announces Challenge to McCain

Attack from the Right:

"We will formally announce at a later time, but we're moving forward to challenge John McCain," he said. "I think we all respect John. I think his place in history is secure. But after close to a quarter-century in Washington, it's time for him to come home."

He said he wasn't serious about running against McCain until a recent "outpouring of support" from Arizonans asking him to run changed his mind.

"Arizonans have a clear choice -- a clear, commonsense, consistent conservative, or they can remain with a moderate who calls himself a maverick," Hayworth said.

Hayworth's immediate problem will be getting funds for the race. As Ed notes, a primary challenge to the previous election's presidential ticket worked for Ned Lamont against Joe Lieberman, but Lamont could self-fund. McCain already has $5 million squirreled away and he starts with much greater name recognition.

Ed is still scratching his head over Palin's continued support for McCain in the face of a challenger like Hayworth, who presumably is closer to Palin's politics. She apparently views McCain as a friend, so she agreed to help when he asked. Ed thinks this might hurt her with more conservative grassroots types, but I'm not so sure. I think she gets a pass for being classy. Sure, too great an emphasis on loyalty got Bush 43 into trouble, but it's better than the alternative: publicly rebuffing her former campaign partner and starting that GOP civil war the legacy media is still desperately looking for.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:26 PM

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