All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, could face a strong primary challenge in his 2010 reelection effort: A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds McCain in a virtual tie with a conservative Phoenix radio host and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth.

Hayworth has expressed interest in running against McCain, but he has not announced that he will do so. The former Congressman got 43 percent support in the survey of likely Republican primary voters, while McCain got 45 percent. Four percent went to former Minutemen leader Chris Simcox.

McCain leads among the state's Republican women, while Hayworth leads among men.

Rasmussen points out that a September poll found that while 75 percent of Republican primary voters expect McCain to win the nomination, 61 percent feel he has lost touch with the members of his party.

Nearly three in four Republicans nationwide say elected Republicans in Congress have lost touch with party members.

As for McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, Rasmussen has found that 59 percent of Republican voters say she shares the values of Republicans nationwide.

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A number of retired military generals who now work for private defense firms are still advising the military -- with no obligation to disclose their ties to the defense contractors to the government, according to a report from USA Today published Wednesday. That needs to change, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told the newspaper in an interview published today.

USA Today's investigation found that 80 percent of the retired generals and admirals who now serve as "senior mentors" for the military have financial ties to defense contractors. Not only are they not obligated to report those ties, the senior mentors are also exempt from ethics rules that apply to part-time federal employees because they are hired as independent contractors.

McCain told the newspaper that those paid by defense contractors should be barred from mentoring at war games that present a conflict of interest. Furthermore, he said, they should have to disclose their financial ties.

"I'm sure most of them would have no problem with that," he said. "The important thing is that they avoid the appearance of conflict."

McCain is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Two Democratic senators on the committee, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Jim Webb of Virginia, also said there should be new disclosure rules. Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), chair of the defense subcommittee for the House Appropriations Committee, said he has asked the Defense Department to immediately provide his panel with justification and criteria for the work of the "senior mentor" program.

The ties between the public and private sectors go beyond the military. The Huffington Post points to a 2004 study that found 291 former high-ranking government officials serving as lobbyists, board members or executives at contracting firms that benefit from federal contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

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Sen. John McCain defended his 2008 presidential campaign staff today against the attacks lobbed at them from Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue."

In an interview with Reuters, McCain praised his campaign manager Steve Schmidt and campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace. Palin, McCain's 2008 running mate, criticized both in her book.

"There's been a lot of dust flying around in the last few days, and I just wanted to mention that I have the highest regard for Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace and the rest of the team," McCain said. "I think it's just time to move on."

Wallace said Palin's claims about her are not true and said the book is "based on fabrications."

Other members of McCain's campaign staff have disputed the stories from Palin's book. Additionally, factual errors and discrepancies in Palin's claims have come to light since excerpts of the book were released. Earlier this week, McCain said Palin was wrong about a $50,000 bill she claimed to have received for the vice presidential vetting process.

Despite the controversy, McCain told Reuters, "I'm still really proud of her and the campaign she ran, and I think it's pretty obvious that she has a substantial base and interest out there." The interest in her book, he said, showed "the strength of the base" of the Republican Party.

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Despite the fact that Sarah Palin uses her new book to air her grievances with John McCain's presidential campaign team, McCain reportedly said he enjoyed reading Palin's book.

"I hope she sells lots of them," McCain told the Hill newspaper.

Palin, who served as McCain's vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential election, accuses the McCain staff of micro-managing her and keeping her from the press, among other things.

Some members of McCain's campaign staff have disputed her claims, and factual errors from her book have come to light, as well as discrepancies in her claims.

McCain has largely stayed out of the debate over the veracity of Palin's claims, but he told the Hill that it was untrue that she was sent a $50,000 legal bill to pay for the vice presidential vetting process. He said the bill was in fact to pay for legal fees related to the "Troopergate" investigation into an alleged abuse of power by Palin.

"That was over the troopergate," McCain said, referring to the investigation into Palin's attempts to fire her ex-brother-in-law, state Trooper Mike Wooten.

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Sarah Palin's new autobiography "Going Rogue" has recieved its share of media attention as well as a fair amount of criticism for including discrepancies with her own and her former campaign aides stories. CBS News' Scott Conroy, Republican Strategist Matt Mackoviac and the Huffington Post's Sam Stein debated these contradictions on "Washington Unplugged" Tuesday.

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein recieved emails from former McCain aides which contradict some of Palin's claims in the book. "It's minor stuff but it gets to the credibility gap that is sort of plaguing Sarah Palin right now," he told moderator Nancy Cordes.

One such e-mail disproves Palin's argument in "Going Rogue" that she was shielded from the press by the McCain campaign at large, campaign director Steve Schmidt specifically. On whether to appear on "Saturday Night Live," an e-mail from Schmidt shows Palin was hesitant because of the content of the sketch show and Schmidt says "do it if you want, don't do it if you don't."

"In the book she describes it much differently. She says that she was gung ho on the idea and that she was the one who had to convince Schmidt to do it," Stein explained.

Scott Conroy, co-author of "Sarah from Alaska" has also been fact checking "Going Rogue."

"From the reporting that we have done for our book. We reported for eight months. We had 190 interviews for our book. There is a lot of stuff in there that does not match up with what Sarah Palin has been saying and some of it is provably false," Conroy explained, noting Palin's claim that her stylist also worked with Katie Couric. "That is just one example that can demonstrably be proven false and does not really help Sarah Palin in her efforts to win this 'he said she said' battle with the McCain folks."

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Sen. John McCain said the White House was dragging its feet on the decision to increase troop levels and chided President Barack Obama for the delay, saying "it's time to act."

"We watch this situation continue to deteriorate while this long protracted process of decision-making goes on. We're not operating in a vacuum. The president of the United States needs to make this decision and soon," McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' "The Early Show." (Watch the video at left)

Violence continues to flare up in that country as the president mulls whether to send the additional 40,000 troops recommended by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for 12 more deaths Wednesday, including one American, after gunmen stormed a U.N. complex in Kabul. U.S. troop deaths earlier this week made October the deadliest month for American forces since the 2001 invasion.

But McCain said the spike in violence, believed tied to Afghanistan's upcoming runoff election, should not dissuade Mr. Obama from authorizing the troop increase.

"Yes, it's a heavy responsibility. But to drag that responsibility out and that process out is not helpful to our effort," he said.

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Sen. John McCain continued his lobby for a troop surge in Afghanistan as President Obama reconsiders his overall strategy for the region.

"It's not as tough as when the surge started in Iraq," McCain said today during an interview with NBC's David Gregory at The First Draft of History, a conference in Washington, D.C., produced by The Atlantic, the Newseum and The Aspen Institute.

"I am confident we can succeed if there are sufficient resources to do so. If we don't get sufficient manpower--men and women in uniform--then I think we could fail," he said.

McCain said that the strategy used in Iraq to clear and hold areas, and create an environment so that allowed citizens to return to normal life, could be applied to Afghanistan. "We could see signs of success in 18 months. If not we'll make a decision at that time," he said.

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Conservative commentator Glenn Beck caused a bit of a stir this week, saying on the debut of @katiecouric, Katie Couric's new web-only interview show, that Sen. John McCain "would have been worse for the country than Barack Obama." (watch the Beck interview at left)

Beck also told Couric that McCain was a "weird progressive" like Theodore Roosevelt.

Well, McCain took that as a compliment, saying on the "The Early Show" Wednesday that "any time my name is mentioned in the same breath as Teddy Roosevelt, I am honored. Teddy Roosevelt's my hero."

Katie Couric's full interview with Glenn Beck

You can watch the interview with McCain below after a report on Mr. Obama's U.N. speech:

Sen. John McCain said President Barack Obama should not hesitate to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan amid reports the president is reconsidering plans to escalate force levels in the increasingly violent country.

"Well, first of all, many of us knew there would be increased casualties, unfortunately, as we moved into areas that are controlled by the Taliban. Second of all, the strategy is there. Admiral Mullen, the chairman joint chiefs of staff said that strategy was the one developed in march. The president was very strong in March as to what needed to be done," McCain said on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.

Administration officials indicated this week that Mr. Obama may look to expand counterterrorism operations in Pakistan instead of pursuing the major troop increase in Afghanistan he supported in the spring.

Afghanistan has become an increasingly deadly place for U.S. troops over recent months. But McCain, who lost the presidency to Mr. Obama last fall, said abandoning the troop increase will just lead to weaker security.

"It's clear we need additional troops. And the longer we wait and delay, the more Americans will be put at risk unnecessarily."Sen. John McCain said President Barack Obama should not hesitate to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan amid reports the president is reconsidering plans to escalate force levels in the increasingly violent country.

"Well, first of all, many of us knew there would be increased casualties, unfortunately, as we moved into areas that are controlled by the Taliban. Second of all, the strategy is there. Admiral Mullen, the chairman joint chiefs of staff said that strategy was the one developed in march. The president was very strong in March as to what needed to be done," McCain said on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.

Administration officials indicated this week that Mr. Obama may look to expand counterterrorism operations in Pakistan instead of pursuing the major troop increase in Afghanistan he supported in the spring.

Afghanistan has become an increasingly deadly place for U.S. troops over recent months. But McCain, who lost the presidency to Mr. Obama last fall, said abandoning the troop increase will just lead to weaker security.

"It's clear we need additional troops. And the longer we wait and delay, the more Americans will be put at risk unnecessarily."

At the memorial service for Ted Kennedy tonight, Sen. John McCain paid tribute to his friend with stories about their time together in the Senate.

"He was good company, my friend, Ted," the Arizona Republican said. "He had the Irish talent for storytelling and for friendship."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy

In particular, McCain recalled an argument between the two on the Senate after they noticed two freshman senators arguing.

"You might think that two more senior members of the Senate would in such a situation counsel two junior members to observe the courtesies and comity, which, theoretically, are supposed to distinguish our debates," he said. "But Ted and I shared the sentiment that a fight not joined, was a fight not enjoyed. And irresistibly we were both drawn into a debate we had no particular interest in, but which suddenly looked like fun."

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