An interview with the Arizona Daily Star:
McCAIN: In the short term, the economy is bad and it’s going to get worse. We need to obviously have a stimulus. At the same time, it would be a perfect opportunity to put in some fundamental reforms.
STAR: Would you expand on those reforms?
McCAIN: Well one, elimination of earmarking. [...]

Rumory rumor time! Paul Giblin:
Sen. John McCain may face former Rep. J.D. Hayworth in the 2010 Republican primary for McCain?s Senate seat, according to Bryon York, a White House correspondent for National Review Online, who wrote about the possible showdown Tuesday.

From AzCentral:
Kyl said he doesn’t expect Napolitano to start “bringing home the bacon” in her new role but said Arizona stands to benefit from a Homeland Security secretary well-versed in the state’s concerns.
“She knows border issues. She knows the problems of a state like Arizona, which has to put up with a lot of illegal [...]

From AzCentral:
John McCain is officially back in U.S. senator mode. On Tuesday, he laid out what he called a “very active agenda” for representing Arizona on Capitol Hill after two years on the bruising presidential-campaign trail.
The 72-year-old Republican also left little doubt that he is running for a fifth consecutive Senate term. He comes up [...]

And immigration reform is the crux, according to pollsters. From KTAR:
McCain’s favorable rating is down 7 points from March. His negative number is up 12 points for that same period.
Meanwhile, Jon Kyl isn’t faring much better. His positive rating is “down” 6 points; his negative number is “up” 6 points.
Question: Why are people polling for [...]

Colin Powell gives $2300 to McCain. “It was not a formal endorsement and he has not endorsed any of the candidates.” [IHT]
McCain got 1 percent of the vote in a recent Iowa straw poll. “[T]he fact that he did that poorly was just a bit eye-popping and raised questions among Republicans about whether he would [...]

From John McCain’s supporter newsletter:
Have you seen the headlines about how much money the Democrats are raising? In just six months, the Democrats running for president against me have raised more than a jaw-dropping $100 million combined! These well-funded Democrats are so far out of the mainstream that electing any one of them as President [...]

John McCain and Jon Kyl’s staffers are apparently part of a softball team called the No Talent AZ Clowns. They’re supposedly doing well this year.
The team has been around for a while, and used to include staff from Jim Kolbe’s office.
I think we need a shout-out.

From the Washington Post:
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn’t include a path to citizenship.
The move away from a comprehensive measure is an about-face for the Arizona senator, who had been a leading GOP champion of a bill that included a [...]

The Republic’s editorial board ran a piece today called “A party in free fall”… here’s a bit of it relating to our Senators:
A local (and, to some extent, national) leader of the opposition to that [immigration reform] plan, state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, questioned the way [pollster Bruce] Merrill phrased some of his questions, suggesting [...]

Cindy McCain encourages women to take a course that teaches them how to perform self-defense with their cars. [Business Journal]
John McCain spent more than $1.5 million chartering planes during the first half of the year; now takes corporate jets, which he once tried to ban for Senators. [NYT]
McCain says that the threat of Islamist terrorism [...]

From the Tribune:
U.S. Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain reintroduced legislation Tuesday to allow Resolution Copper Co. to develop an underground mine near Superior that could tap one of the largest deposits of copper ore ever discovered in North America.
However, some residents of Superior and the San Carlos Apache Tribe object to the land exchange, [...]

From Politico:
Sen. John McCain is circulating talking points to supporters making the case for why he can still win despite his precarious money situation and loss of key staff. In two documents obtained from a Republican source outside McCain’s circle, the campaign compares the Arizonan’s rocky candidacy to Ronald Reagan’s in 1980, describes a GOP [...]

H R 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, passed in the Senate 49 – 48. Kyl voted Nay, McCain voted Nay.

The motion to invoke cloture and vote on the Levin amendment – To provide for a reduction and transition of United States forces in Iraq – failed 52 – 47 (3/5 needed). Kyl [...]

Republicans were able to block an Iraq withdrawl bill after an all-night debate, but they’re pretty cranky about it… As quoted over at ThinkProgress:
MCCAIN: What have we done by not passing the Defense Authorization bill? We are not allowing a 3 1/2 percent pay raise to men and women in the military. We’re not modernizing [...]

“But that is, sadly, just what John McCain is: the wrong man for the times. Perversely so, almost.” [foxnews.com]
McCain is like Luke Skywalker, and “[t]hese obituaries could well prove premature.” [CQ Weekly]
“And in Iowa, for example, internal polls by Republicans show his support plummeting as he became increasingly identified with the immigration bill.” [Jim Lehrer [...]

Ralph Novak on John McCain’s ailing campaign:
McCain’s futures contract has plummeted in just one week from around $12 to $4. He led Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) by just 70 cents on July 3.

From the Mohave Daily News:
Bullhead City Council Member Sam Medrano blasted Arizona senators John McCain and Jon Kyl at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
He was referring to comments made by Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury at Woodbury’s recent annual Town Hall meeting in Laughlin.
A second bridge is years away from becoming a reality and Woodbury placed [...]

It’s over, folks. The McCain campaign is down to $2 million on hand and has laid off half its staff…
Who will he throw his support behind?

S. 1639, the immigration reform bill, failed to make cloture and reach the Senate floor for a vote by 43 – 53. Kyl and McCain both voted Yea, which would have moved the bill forward.
Various House members reacted to the bill’s failure, ranging from disappointment to relief. The Republic has the story.

Earlier, the Senate rejected [...]