US Senate

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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.

U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson) and Harry Mitchell (D-Tempe) broke ranks with their party Wednesday night to vote against a bill that would commit billions of federal dollars to the resuscitation of the U.S. auto industry.

The bill passed around 8:30 p.m. EST on a vote of 237-170, with all but 32 Republicans opposing the bill or not voting, and 20 Democrats joining with the GOP. Two of them were Giffords, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, and Mitchell, who has sought admittance into the Blue Dog coalition.

The national political landscape has changed, but in general, it isn't change we can believe in, it's change that everyone should have seen coming.

For the first time since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, a credible case can be made that the United States is now a center-left country instead of a center-right country.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) released a statement Monday on the nomination of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary under President-elect Barack Obama.

Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"The Department of Homeland Security requires a strong leader who has the ability to direct one of the largest government departments and has a commitment to working in a bipartisan manner on homeland security challenges facing our nation," Collins said. "As a governor of a border state, Janet Napolitano understands the importance of developing policies that will not impede legitimate travel and trade but will keep our enemies out. I spoke with the Governor earlier today and look forward to working with Senator [Joe] Lieberman to consider this nomination carefully and expeditiously."

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.

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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.

U.S. Sen. John McCain will run for a fifth term in the Senate, Roll Call is reporting.

"After much speculation that his failed presidential bid would be his last campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has decided to run for re-election to his Senate seat in 2010," according to the D.C.-based paper.

CNN also reported Tuesday that McCain has revived his candidate PAC, an almost certain sign he's going to run again.

Jon Kyl

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Phoenix) spent the past two days speaking out in opposition to a proposal that would send $25 billion in federal funds to bail out the so-called Big Three automakers.

On Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday," Kyl told host Chris Wallace that he would rather General Motors, Chrysler or Ford declare bankruptcy and restructure than hand them federal dollars.

"We have laws to deal with companies who are having a hard time," Kyl said. "And if they can't pay their bills, they go into a reorganization under what's called Chapter 11 of our bankruptcy code, and as a result of that... they can restructure, reorganize, get rid of the contracts that are bringing them down, create a new business model and move forward."