RINO Backlash Against McCain in His Home State

John McCain may have won re-election to the Senate with 76% of the vote, but that doesn't mean the state's Republicans will necessarily support him for the big job:

SURPRISE, Ariz., Feb. 13 — The chairman of the local Republican Party here in the most populous county in Arizona has in his possession a bright yellow button with a black line slashed through the name McCain.

“I don’t wear it out very often,” said the chairman, Lyle Tuttle of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, in a slightly sheepish coda to a 20-minute vituperation about the state’s senior senator, served up from his living room chair.

“I think those who do not support Senator McCain,” Mr. Tuttle continued, “if they could just get the word out and help people to understand what has happened with him, we could have an impact.”

No doubt about it, Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who would like to be president, is a popular man in his state, having won re-election in 2004 with about 76 percent of the vote.

But a vocal slice of the state’s most conservative Republicans, reflecting concerns about Mr. McCain held by some conservatives nationwide, are agitating against him in a way that they hope might throw off his incipient presidential campaign.

If there's one issue that especially potent with Arizona voters, I would guess it would be the border and the whole enchilada of illegal immigration. I don't remember hearing McCain come out strongly in favor of a secure border, probably because the press wouldn't like that and we all know how much McCain desires good press.

In Maricopa County (Phoenix) republicans are not content to go with McCain quite yet:

The Maricopa County Republican Party recently conducted a straw poll that depicted Mr. McCain as losing badly to Representative Duncan Hunter of California, a conservative unknown to the majority of Arizona voters, then touted it with unmasked glee. The poll was derided as a sham by Mr. Merrill, the political scientist, and others who questioned the methodology.

Among some Republicans here, Mr. Romney, a Mormon who may benefit from his faith’s strongholds around the state, is also mentioned as a viable alternative to Mr. McCain. Mr. Romney is supported by Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County sheriff, among others.

Mr. McCain “can’t just take it as a given that he is going to win here,” said Randy Pullen, the new chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, who got the post by narrowly defeating a more moderate Republican backed by Mr. McCain. “He is going to have to work.”

It's not going to be hard for Republican candidates to run to the right of McCain on a lot of issues, and that's what wins primaries. I've long felt that age and persistant RINOism would keep McCain off the general election ballot, and I still believe that to be true. If anyone will knock him off, though, it won't be one of the most conservative candidates; it will be Rudy Giuliani.