John McCain Bashing Potential Conservative Challenger

John McCain is worried. He's up for re-election again in 2010 and Mr. Moderate Maverick may be facing a challenger in the primary - a conservative challenger:

John McCain, although absent from the actual festivities, dominated the buzz at last evening’s AZ GOP Christmas party. Several partygoers were comparing notes on the push-pull polling calls they had received, obviously done at the behest of the 2010 McCampaign.

The questions asked by the “Parent’s Group” pollster began with generalities such as how likely the recipient was to vote in the upcoming election. They escalated to more targeted information such as questioning whether any family members were military veterans or did they own a firearm. Finally, they got to the nitty-gritty of a match up between McCain and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, who is not even a declared candidate. When the pollster was told that Hayworth, if he were to enter the race, had their vote, out came the long-knife slasher questions, linking Hayworth to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, even though Hayworth was vindicated and cleared of allallegations. There was even a question disparaging his family members.

It appears John McCain is running scared and is already out in front of the still phantom candidate, spending money to denigrate him, should he decide to enter the fray. These embarrassing polling numbers, courtesy of Rasmussen Reports, could be the reason for the defensive actions.

J.D. Hayworth is a very attractive candidate. Much younger than Maverick and very articulate in his conservative views. I think the citizens of Arizona have had all they want of McCain, and should Hayworth get into the race, he'd be very tough to beat.