Brown answers McCain's call for help

Mar 5, 2010 — The Boston Globe

By Matt Viser

Mar. 5, 2010 (The Boston Globe delivered by Newstex) --

TUCSON - J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman and conservative AM radio host, nearly lost his voice this week delivering fiery attacks on John McCain, the Republican 2008 presidential nominee whom Hayworth accuses of betraying his party and getting too cozy with East Coast liberals. The four-term senator, says Hayworth, ``is not the John McCain we knew.''

Hayworth's assault from the right in a GOP primary has forced McCain to launch an early, aggressive defense of his seat. And today, McCain will attempt to enhance his conservative bona fides by hosting the party's new darling, Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, on an Arizona campaign swing.

Brown is planning to accompany McCain at a campaign rally and fund-raiser in Phoenix today, followed tomorrow by a trip to Tucson, where they will attend a University of Arizona Wildcats basketball game.

This will be the first campaign event outside Massachusetts for Brown, who was virtually unknown outside his Wrentham state Senate district just three months ago. The new senator has received dozens of invitations from candidates wanting him to campaign on their behalf around the nation, but he has no other events scheduled beyond McCain's.

``John McCain is a personal friend, an American hero, and someone who stood by him when no one else thought he had a chance,'' said Gail Gitcho, Brown's communications director.

McCain was the first US senator to encourage Brown in his run for the seat left vacant by the death of liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy, and Brown has said he idolizes the former Navy pilot.

But Brown is wading into a race that features all of the competing forces tugging at the Republican Party nationally - tensions that are being played out in GOP primaries from Florida to Texas to California - as Hayworth seeks to tap into the same voter anger and Tea Party enthusiasm that helped Brown get elected in Massachusetts.

The trip will test Brown's ability to straddle both sides of the party divide: as a symbol of change in Massachusetts who has come to embody the prospects of a GOP insurgency around the country and as a loyal follower of the establishment candidate, McCain.

While Brown could help traditional conservatives rally around McCain, he also risks antagonizing Tea Party voters around the country who poured money into his surprise Massachusetts election and are fed up with the status quo. ``My bubble was burst the day after Scott Brown's victory when I got a voice mail from him endorsing McCain,'' said Judith Blair, a 62-year-old from Tucson who is supporting Hayworth. ``No thank you. You're scratching his back already? Being a politician already?''

In his challenge, Hayworth is railing against illegal immigration and touting his support for gun-owners rights and opposition to abortion. His campaign appearances this week attracted small but passionate crowds.

``I'm ready for a true conservative,'' said Lamar Marshall, a 64-year-old retired fire battalion chief from Tucson. ``This is the beginning of the tsunami of conservatism that's going to come back to this country. . . . I'm more optimistic than I've ever been in my life.''

In a November Rasmussen poll, McCain had only a slight lead - 45 percent to 43 percent - a shocking scare for the senator, who has rarely faced a serious reelection challenge. By late January, following a barrage of McCain's negative radio ads that painted Hayworth as fiscally irresponsible, another Rasmussen poll had McCain up by a comfortable 22 percentage points.

McCain has called on other high-profile Republicans to campaign for him. McCain's vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, is planning to stump with McCain later this month. Mitt Romney, onetime Massachusetts governor, also endorsed his former presidential primary rival.

Hayworth, 51, is attempting a political comeback. A former TV sportscaster, he won a congressional seat in Arizona in 1994, a year that brought a wave of conservative Republicans to Washington and which some say will be a model for Republican victories in 2010. He served for 12 years before being ousted by a Democrat. ``This is a very energized race,'' said Matt Roberts, spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party, which has not endorsed anyone in the August primary. ``This is going to be a nationally highlighted race.''

There are ominous signs around the country for McCain and other GOP incumbents who are perceived to be moderate. US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison this week lost a gubernatorial primary to incumbent Rick Perry, who is more conservative, appealed to the Tea Party movement, and railed against Washington. In Florida, once-favored Governor Charlie Crist is being strongly challenged from the right in a US Senate race by Marco Rubio.

Hayworth is providing McCain with the strongest primary challenge since he first won the seat in 1986, but McCain had $5 million in his campaign account and another $22 million he may be able to use from his presidential campaign, according to year-end campaign finance reports. Hayworth, who formally launched his campaign less than three weeks ago, has not yet had to file a campaign finance report, but is trying to raise $1 million this month.

``It's a strange time and there's a lot of anti-incumbent feeling across the country. Anyone has to take every race seriously. John is certainly doing that, and, consequently, I think he'll be fine,'' said Grant Woods, former Arizona attorney general, who was McCain's first chief of staff and remains close to the senator. ``His other big advantage is Hayworth is a buffoon in my opinion.''

Hayworth is trying to send a message almost identical to the one Brown used to win the election in Massachusetts, portraying himself as the underdog and trying to tap into an electorate frustrated with Washington, the economy, and the status quo. He's even, at least for now, being driven around in a pickup truck that belongs to one of his aides (it's a tan Dodge Ram, not a green GMC; the vehicle choice is something Hayworth says is just a coincidence).

Wearing a Reagan pin on his lapel and with campaign signs that dub him ``the consistent conservative,'' Hayworth starts his events by asking anyone who served in the military to stand and be recognized. He quotes both Bible verses and the Constitution, and does impressions of comedian Jay Leno and the late Massachusetts congressman Thomas P. ``Tip'' O'Neill.

``John has absolutely delighted in uncomplimentary comments about conservatives,'' Hayworth said at his campaign headquarters in Phoenix, accusing McCain of a ``failure to seriously respect the heart and soul of the Arizona Republican Party.''

McCain has increasingly tilted to the right in response to the Hayworth challenge. He voted against forming a special commission to tackle the growing federal deficit - something he had initially cosponsored - when it came under attack from conservatives as a way to raise taxes. He said ``I respect'' a Supreme Court decision that derailed a major campaign finance package that he sponsored with Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat. He voted to bail out the nation's financial system, but last month told the Arizona Republic that he was misled by Bush administration officials on how the money would be used.

McCain has taken out radio ads that say Hayworth voted for the type of budget earmarks that McCain has generally opposed. ``JD Hayworth? Huh. That's not what Arizona wants,'' a woman says in a recent McCain radio ad. ``He sounds conservative on the radio, but JD was one of the biggest spenders in Congress.''

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.

Newstex ID: BGL-1035-42602221