McCain Fears November Loss Here In Arizona
McCain now fears that he could lose Arizona in November because of anti-McCain attitudes of the Neo-Conservative wing of the Arizona Republican Party. In a press briefing, Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, did not include Arizona as one of the 17 “historically Republican states” — though Arizona has voted Republican in every presidential election but one since 1952. The omission signals that McCain believes that Arizona voters may well opt for Barack Obama.
Washington Independent, June 10th 2008
PHOENIX–Sen. John McCain’s big struggle to energize a suspicious conservative Republican base and attract crucial independent voters is a national fight that encompasses his home state of Arizona. Despite representing the state in Congress for 26 years, McCain is now confronting a resurgent state Democratic Party and a burgeoning number of unpredictable independent voters.
While Arizona Republicans are bogged down with nasty infighting and a slumping number of registered voters, Arizona Democrats are gaining voters daily. Powered by Sen. Barack Obama’s voter registration drive, Democratic voter registration is up 2.8 percent in the last year and Democrats are poised to gain control of a majority of the state’s House congressional delegation for the first time in decades. {In the past year alone, Democrats have registered 60,000 more voters than the Republicans.}
The biggest shift in the Arizona political landscape has been in the number of voters registering as independents — up 7.6 percent in the last year. Arizona is now essentially a tri-party state — Republicans make up 38 percent of registered voters; Democrats, 34 percent, and independents, 27 percent. Securing a plurality of independents will be crucial to the presidential race here and Obama has the early edge. Without the enthusiastic support of rank-and-file Republicans, McCain could face a desert dogfight that could wind up costing him the White House in a close contest.