Teabaggers plot their revenge against John McCain

Last weekend the Arizona GOP held its biennial reorganization meeting, and Sen. John McCain decided to attend for the first time in years. Hmmm, there must be an election coming up.

Leading up to this meeting, the right-wing was enraged at Arizona’s angry old man, with headlines like this — Free Republic: John McCain Purging Arizona GOP Of Tea Party; Hot Air: McCain’s team quietly purging Arizona GOP of tea-party foes before 2016 reelection bid; Newsmax: McCain Wages ‘All-Out War’ to Rid Arizona GOP of Tea Party; even the kidz at Politico Tiger Beat on The Potomac got into the act: McCain’s big purge.

Let’s just say that Grampy McCrankypants did not exactly get the warmest reception at the Arizona GOP meeting.  The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported, Graham re-elected state GOP chairman:

[T]he highlight of the day was a rare visit by McCain, who hasn’t spoken at an Arizona Republican Party state committee meeting in years.

McCain has clashed repeatedly with some conservatives in the party, including former Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman AJ LaFaro. The state committee voted in January 2014 to censure the five-term senator for what his critics called an insufficiently conservative record.

State committeemen gave McCain a mixed reception, with many cheering Arizona’s senior senator and others booing and turning their back on him.

“Thanks all of you for being here today and thank you for the courtesy of not disturbing my remarks,” McCain said as he opened his speech.

* * *

Several critics loudly heckled him during his speech, including one who loudly told him, “Go to Mexico, John,” and another who yelled out that he was a “war mongrel.”

“You are exactly right, my friend,” McCain responded to the critic who called him a “war mongrel.”

I almost spit out my coffee when I read that last part. It instantly reminded me of this classic Bloom County comic strip that I still remember after all these years.

Teabaggers crack me up!

McCain’s approved slate of candidates won all but one party leadership position. But the Teabaggers are beginning to plot their revenge. The Hill reports, Tea Party lawmakers may take on McCain:

Arizona GOP Reps. Matt Salmon and David Schweikert, who are “best friends” on Capitol Hill, have spent recent weeks mulling over the possibility with family members, analyzing polling and keeping tabs on McCain, as he makes moves toward running for a sixth Senate term.

But if one decides to take a shot against the state’s entrenched senior senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, the other won’t.

“If Matt came to me and said he wants to pull the trigger, it would mean we would probably offer to chair his committee,” Schweikert told The Hill in an interview. “Nothing even close to that [has happened]. Seriously, not even that first step.”

Salmon has a larger war chest than Schweikert. As of Nov. 24, 2014, Salmon had $545,000 cash on hand, while Schweikert only had $66,000. McCain, meanwhile, had $1.54 million in his campaign coffers as of Sept. 30, 2014.

Salmon and Schweikert would be among the best positioned and best known of the slew of possible primary challengers expected to run against McCain — a top target of conservative activists who view him as too moderate on issues such as immigration and taxes.

McCain was met with a mix of boos, curses and cheers, when he took the stage last weekend at the Arizona Republican Party’s annual meeting, and a dozen activists turned their back on the senator. But that was nicer treatment than what McCain experienced at the same meeting a year earlier, when local activists and precinct committeemen voted to censure the 78-year-old Arizona senator.

McCain has been raising campaign cash, traveling the state and aggressively moving to purge conservative foes from the state party — part of the reason for the jeers last weekend.

* * *

McCain has long been at odds with the two congressmen — both beat primary opponents he endorsed to win their House seats.

Salmon downplayed any talk of taking on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee chairman and revered Vietnam War POW. “I’m just happy to be here and do my job,” Salmon said in a recent interview at the House and Senate GOP retreat in Hershey, Pa. “I’m happy to be in the office I’m in.”

But sources close to Salmon say he’s taking a close look at the Senate seat, pointing to a Maricopa County Republican Party meeting earlier this month where Salmon bested McCain by a 2-1 ratio in an informal Senate straw poll.

Schweikert acknowledged that he polled the Senate race last year. But of the two congressmen, Schweikert appears less likely to mount a challenge.

In 2012, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies booted Schweikert off the influential Financial Services Committee, after he voted against leadership one too many times. But in the fall, Schweikert won back his seat on the panel, a post that he enjoys and brings him hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the financial sector.

Also, right after the new year, Schweikert and his wife, Joyce, spent an entire day discussing the idea of a Senate bid. “She’s not thrilled with the idea,” he quipped.

“Part of it is: Are you willing to stop the work you’re doing for almost two years to campaign and raise money and raise money and campaign,” said Schweikert, a former state lawmaker, who pointed out he’s defeated two incumbents before, beating Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) in 2010 and Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) in 2012, when their districts were merged during redistricting.

McCain’s allies have already been looking to retake control of a party that’s long been hostile to him, bumping libertarian and Tea Party activists out of official party roles and off the state central committee.

* * *

If either Schweikert or Salmon run against McCain, there’s a good chance Tea Party groups would get involved.

The Club for Growth and other national conservative groups have long supported both House legislators, helping them win their early primaries over McCain-backed candidates. The Club also has a long history of criticizing McCain.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee could help McCain if he faces a tough primary challenge. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told The Washington Post that his members shouldn’t be “afraid” of a primary: “We will win all the primaries. We did it in ’14. We will do it in ’16.”

Well, them are fightin’ words in these parts, Pilgrim! “Matt Salmon and David Schweikert both have strong support from grassroots groups in Arizona and from conservative groups in D.C.” So we are almost certainly looking at an ugly GOP primary in 2016.

So who do the Democrats have to put up as a credible Senate candidate in 2016? (emphasis on credible). No seriously, I’m asking, because I am not aware of anyone who has been building an organization since McCain’s last reelection to take him on in 2016. And I would know.

This race may cost upwards of $50 million dollars (including the GOP primary) in the wake of Citizens United, the rise of the Koch Party, and what we witnessed in 2014 Senate races. Most Expensive Races | OpenSecrets. I don’t know of any Arizona Democrat capable of raising multiple millions of dollars like this to be considered a credible candidate. McCain spent over $22 million in 201o to defeat a Democratic candidate who could only raise $1.3 million. Arizona Senate Race: 2010 Cycle. And McCain always has his wife’s personal fortune that he can tap as well.

I detest the idea that this Senate race will be decided in a low turnout GOP primary shortly after the parties presidential nominating conventions in July.