McCain Staying Strong in Arizona

Newcomer Hoping to Challenge McCain

By Andrew Pooch

            John McCain has never lost an election in his home state and he has no plans to change that now.  With the August primaries done, each party has selected a candidate.  Current Senator John McCain is taking on Democratic candidate Rodney Glassman.

The campaigns will be in full swing from now until Election Day in November.  McCain held nothing back while trying to secure the Republican nomination.  The Huffington Post reported, “After funneling $21 million into his campaign successfully, [McCain] withstood a primary challenge from former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth.”

McCain’s biggest test was winning the Republican nomination.  He was in a close battle with J.D. Hayworth until the primaries.  Early polling showed that McCain has a good grip on the Senate election in Arizona.  The official numbers from Rasmussen Reports had “fifty-three percent of likely voters in the state support McCain, while Glassman earned thirty-one percent of the vote. Ten percent liked some other candidate in the race, and six percent were undecided.”

            McCain has a long history in U.S office.  He has held his seat in U.S senate for four terms.  He came up short in two presidential elections.  He missed the republican nomination to Bush in 2000 and lost the presidential election to Obama in 2008. 

            McCain has highlighted important areas on his Website.  He is concerned about immigration, health-care, education, jobs and agriculture.  The recent violence in Arizona has brought the immigration from the South to the forefront of conversation.  McCain feels it’s essential to increase security to effectively protect the citizens of the U.S.  He also sees the public education system of Arizona in major need of reform. McCain believes, “Every public school child deserves a first-rate education. And too many of our schools are producing second-rate results.”

            Glassman is only thirty-two years old, but has credentials to back him up.  Jill Lawrence of Politics Daily, reported that Glassman has a “Bachelor's degree, master's in business administration, master’s in public administration, Ph.D. in arid land resource sciences, law degree.”  He was also a “business consultant, retirement planning counselor, JAG lawyer in the Air Force reserve, Legislative aide to a congressman and city council member.”   His last position was the vice mayor of Tucson.   

            The issues Glassman puts emphasis on are veterans, economy, health care, corporate taxes, clean energy and economic growth.  Glassman suggests that McCain is a “World Senator” and that he doesn’t care about his state.  Glassman emphasizes that he is going to make changes for the country and focus on issues in his home state.  The issue that is hurting Glassman is his inexperience.  He hasn’t had great reviews for his work in Tucson.  McCain has been in the Capitol, he is favored largely because of the experience he has.

            These two different generations of politics will be facing off this fall.  McCain has been the “Maverick” for Arizona for decades and Glassman hasn’t held a major office.  If the projections follow through, McCain will come away with a victory and begin his fifth term in the U.S Senate this fall.

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Website Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/24/arizona-election-results-_n_692950.html

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/arizona/election_2010_arizona_senate