McCain looks to stand again for US Senate

Former presidential hopeful John McCain was set to swamp his far-right Republican challenger in Arizona’s primary vote today, putting him on track for a fifth Senate term after his bruising loss to Barack Obama in 2008.

The Arizona election was one of five US state primaries where voters are choosing party candidates for November balloting nationwide that could end Democrats’ majority hold on the House of Representatives and, perhaps, the Senate.

With Americans in a sour mood over the economy, nearly 10% unemployment and bombarded by a storm of partisanship, outsiders – especially those aligned with or belonging to the amorphous, hard right Tea Party movement – already have swept some key incumbents.

Mr McCain, however, goes into the vote with a healthy, perhaps insurmountable lead in the polls over tea-party-backed former Rep. JD Hayworth, a conservative talk radio personality.

The challenge from party’s right wing has prompted Mr McCain, who has a long history of bucking the conservative establishment, to take a harder turn to the right himself to keep his seat.

Mr McCain tossed aside his self-described “maverick” label and adopted a hard-line stand on immigration just a few years after working with Democrats on a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. “Complete the danged fence,” he says in a campaign ad, three years after dismissing the effectiveness of building a fence on the US-Mexico border.

Meanwhile, his 2008 running mate, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, was trying to help a Tea Party-backed candidate in her home state. Joe Miller’s upstart Republican primary bid against Lisa Murkowski looked like a long shot, but it did not scare away Mrs Palin.

“He’s got the backbone to confront Obama’s radical agenda,” she said in a recorded call to voters.

Mrs Palin has become a de facto leader of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement that seeks to unseat incumbents. However, she has endorsed Mr McCain, who elevated her to the national stage by making her his surprise vice presidential pick two years ago.