Thread: Duncan Hunter Wins Arizona Straw Poll

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/01/16/cq_2124.html -



Longshot Hunter Touts Win in Arizona Straw Poll, and beats McCain

Published: January 16, 2007

It is hard to portray California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter as anything but an underdog as he explores a bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.


Go to complete 2006 election coverage at CQPolitics.com
CQPolitics.com Daily E-mail CQ’s 2006 Election Forecast Map CQ Midday Update from Capitol Hill Though the recent past chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is well known in national security circles, he is known to few voters outside his San Diego area 52nd District. He has never run statewide in populous California, much less cut a high national profile.

But his status as a longshot apparently hasn’t eroded Hunter’s confidence — nor stopped him from comparing himself to the potential heavyweights in the GOP field.

Just days after Hunter filed paperwork to establish an exploratory committee Jan. 12, his campaign released results of a straw poll in Arizona’s most populous county, in which he outran a group of likely and possible GOP hopefuls — including homestate Republican Sen. John McCain, regarded by some as the current front-runner for the Republican nomination.

The poll was taken at the Jan. 13 annual meeting of elected precinct committeemen of the Arizona Republican Party in Maricopa County, which includes the metropolis of Phoenix and is home to roughly 60 percent of Arizona’s population.

A total of 458 party officials voted for their preferred Republican candidates for president — and Hunter came out on top with 96 votes. Taking second and third place were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 82 votes and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who received 53 votes.

McCain ran fourth with 50 votes.

Though the poll’s focus was very narrow, local officials said it provided early proof that McCain — though a major figure in national politics since his vigorous but unsuccessful contest with George W. Bush for the 2000 presidential nomination — faces challenges even on his home turf.

In an interview with CQPolitics.com on Tuesday, Maricopa County Republican Chairman Lyle Tuttle called the results “surprising,” but said Hunter’s strong opposition to illegal immigration, taxes and abortion rights — as well as his former chairmanship and current position as ranking Republican on Armed Services — are reasons why he led the poll among Republican activists who mainly lean strongly to the right.

“He’s just been a very strong, solid, conservative Republican,” Tuttle said.

McCain, of course, is best known for his own military credentials. The ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain is a former Navy pilot hailed for his bravery as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict.

But his appeal to some in the party’s conservative base is mitigated by his image as a maverick on some social issues and other matters such as campaign finance laws and environmental protection — and some have never forgiven him for his hard-hitting challenge in 2000 to GOP front-runner Bush.

McCain’s 2004 vote against amending the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage is one example of his straying from party orthodoxy. It is a profile that has earned the usually conservative McCain an open ear among some independent and even Democratic voters, but may make it hard for him to close the deal with diehard Republicans should he actively pursue their nomination.

National polls nonetheless show McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, both of whom have exploratory committees, as top-tier candidates for the GOP nomination.

Hunter is expected to announce his formal decision on a presidential bid later this month in South Carolina, a strongly conservative-leaning state in which — according to spokesman Roy Tyler — the congressman has been actively campaigning.

© 2006 Congressional Quarterly

This article is very slanted. NYT, go figure.

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McCain has been an enemy of the GOP for years regardless of what he says his political party is. All the people from Az that I have talk to don't like him and there are questions on how he keeps being re-elected.

The sight and sound of this man...is as favorable as seeing and hearing a bush!

Take that Johnny, there is a new man in town!