John McCain, Ron Paul Face Unexpected Conservative Fire in Primaries
Conservative J.D. Hayworth, a former GOP congressman and until recently a conservative talk radio host, will formally announce next week that he will challenge McCain in the Republican primary this August.
"The political winds of change are here," Hayworth, 51, told the New York Times. "The conservatives are highly motivated, and there is an intensity level among conservatives to take part in this primary. The atmospherics will help us."
While McCain has typically taken moderate positions on issues like campaign finance reform and immigration policy, Hayworth has built a more conservative image on his radio show. He told listeners to "get ready for earthquake amnesty" after the earthquake in Haiti, the Times reports. But the Times points out that McCain remains a strong candidate: he has approximately $5 million to spend on his re-election campaign, remains an influential player in Washington and still has the backing of conservative favorite Sarah Palin, his former running mate, who will campaign for him in March.
Still, McCain has tacked right in recent months on issues like gays serving in the military.
Yet as high profile moderate Republicans like McCain try to appease the so-called tea partiers, even incumbents who would appear to subscribe to tea party tenets could be hurt by the conservative base's current sense of disaffection. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is considered by some to be the "father of the Tea Party movement" faces three opponents in the March Republican primary, the Dallas Morning News reports.
"The Tea Parties have awakened a lot of everyday people here and across America," Tim Graney, one of Paul's opponents, told the Morning News.
The newspaper reports that Paul's challengers say he is too focused on national ambitions and that he has has not voted in support of federal aid for his district. They have also criticized his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paul's positions seem to be in line with the Tea Party's emphasis on fiscal conservatism. He even raised millions of dollars for his presidential campaign in 2006 via a "money bomb" on the 234th anniversary of the Boston tea party. Still, his opponents say he needs to go because the Republican party no longer has any principles.
"These Tea Parties are filled with people who want to take back our party," primary challenger Gerald Wall told the Morning News.