John McCain

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John McCain

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) is opposed to the bill passed by the House Wednesday night, a McCain spokeswoman told PolitickerAZ.com Thursday.

"The senator is opposed to the bill as it is written," said Leah Geach of McCain's Washington, D.C. office. She said she didn't have any further details to offer at present.

Despite relatively easy passage in the House, the $14 billion proposal to help keep General Motors and Chrysler auto companies solvent likely faces a Republican-led challenge to get through the Senate. Currently, Democrats and Republicans have a rough parity - before at least seven new Democratic members are sworn in come January - and Democrats will have to keep their caucus solidly in favor of the bill in order to secure its passage. 

Arizona's 10 electoral votes will be officially cast for Senator John McCain on Monday. Arizona's soon-to-be Governor, Jan Brewer will lead the proceedings at the State Capitol.

Former Legislative District 11 Republican Chairman Rob Haney is auto-dialing for support in his race to lead the Maricopa County Republican Party. After announcing Saturday that he is seeking to lead the largest of Arizona's county parties, his drive to secure the position is already underway.

"We're calling every PC [precinct committeeman] we identify" as potential supporters, Haney told PolitickerAZ.com. "We're not going to be sending them to Wes Gullett or any of those people. Only to people we consider conservative Republicans."

He was referring to the former U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) advisor and political operative, who is one of the people Haney identifies as among the culprits of steering the Republican Party off course.

Haney expects to face Jerry Brooks, the former mayor of Chandler and someone Haney calls a "McCain guy."

"It's going to be the same type of battle as LD11," said Haney.

Rob Haney is out and Steve Tully is in as chairman of the Legislative District 11 Republican Committee, after a tempestuous meeting Tuesday night that saw passions flare and intra-party division on display.

Prominent figures in the Arizona Republican Party, past and present, turned up alongside LD11 precinct committeemen and curious rank-and-file Republicans from outside the district for a meeting that promised to be memorable and did not disappoint. Among those on hand Tuesday night were former Gov. Jane Hull, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, former legislator and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Barry Wong, a number of sitting and former state legislators and U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix). Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell was there with ballot counting machines from the county to handle the votes.

Seen as more than a vote on the 11th district's leadership, the meeting was in spirit and actuality a battle between competing ideologies within the Republican Party as a whole. One Republican activist from outside the district who showed up to witness the proceedings told PolitickerAZ.com, "I came to see the bloodbath."

PHOENIX -- U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) will run again for his seat in 2010, he told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.

The former Republican presidential nominee all but announced his re-election last week when he revived his political action committee, enabling him to raise money for what would be his fifth term in the Senate.

McCain appeared upbeat in front of the local press corps, smiling and joking as he fielded questions for about 20 minutes in the manner that characterized his relationship with reporters prior to his presidential run.

Of his failed bid for the nation's highest office, McCain said he was proud of the campaign he'd run, and showed little interest in giving a post-mortem on why he didn't succeed.

"The individual who lost always has that record parsed and examined... and the person who won ran a perfect campaign. That’s always the way history treats it," McCain said.

A great week for Janet Napolitano as she gets to head to Washington as a popular Governor and won't need to deal with a $billion budget deficit. See who else is on this week's Winners & Losers.

On news that Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to be nominated by President-elect Obama to head the Department of Homeland Security, many Arizona Republicans have reacted favorably, figuring her departure will elevate Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer, a Republican, to the governor's seat and eliminate the threat that Napolitano would run against U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) in 2010 - an almost certainly costly, and possibly losing, battle for the GOP.  

However, those at the Arizona Republican Party aren't exactly celebrating. At least not according to party executive director Sean McCaffrey. While McCaffrey said Brewer's elevation would be a good thing, he also indicated that there could be potential pitfalls as well.

"On the plus side you get a Republican governor, and a good one," McCaffrey told PolitickerAZ.com. "The downside of being elevated to that job is that you have to do it."

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John McCain

Gov. Janet Napolitano's spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Phoenix) called to congratulate her on being the "top contender' for the job of Secretary of Homeland Security in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet. 

A release put out by McCain Thursday said:

"Senator McCain called and congratulated Governor Janet Napolitano on her emergence as top contender for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Senator McCain said 'Governor Napolitano's experience as the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Arizona's Attorney General, and as Governor warrants her rapid confirmation by the Senate and I hope she is quickly confirmed.' Senator McCain looks forward to working with her throughout the nomination process."

Will Gov. Janet Napolitano and Sen. John McCain go head-to-head in 2010?

Experts and pundits agree that the pairing may be likely. Napolitano, the most prominent Democrat in the state, seems like the only figure with enough clout to challenge McCain, who won his home state in the presidential contest by nine points.

Whether or not the race happens depends on the man who bested McCain nationally, President-elect Barack Obama. If Obama offers and the governor accepts a high post within his administration, observers say Napolitano would be giving up her shot to take on McCain, who is up for re-election in two years.