Federal Judiciary

'The Double-Talk Express' -- By: Robert Costa

Washington, D.C. -- Unlike most politicians at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, former GOP congressman J. D. Hayworth roams the bowels of the Marriott Wardman hotel alone -- no phalanx of aides, no fuss. Yet his sun-flecked face is ubiquitous. One minute he?s in a windowless conference room introducing Border War, his illegal-immigration documentary, to a group of activists sipping cheap coffee. Then his baritone laugh rumbles from a mezzanine corner as he holds court with some College Republicans. A few minutes later, the former drive-time star of KFYI-AM 550 in Phoenix strolls past a trio of tea-partiers in tri-corner hats to hustle down an escalator toward ?radio row? for a slew of interviews. Before long, Hayworth zooms by again for more walking, talking, and grinning. And everywhere he goes, the salutation is the same: ?Hey, J. D.!?

For these conservatives, Hayworth is an old friend, and welcomed like one -- most of the time. While CPAC didn?t give him a keynote speaking slot in the main ballroom, in the hallways, at least, he?s almost as popular as Marco Rubio. Grandpas in Nixon pins, skinny college girls with lattes, you name it -- they all stop to pat Hayworth?s back or tug at his sleeve, urging him on in his Senate primary battle with Arizona?s longtime Republican senator John McCain, the GOP?s 2008 presidential nominee. Whether this right-wing affection will enable Hayworth to topple McCain and escape some of his own skeletons -- past and present -- remains to be seen.

Hayworth, 51 years old, officially announced his candidacy last Monday, but he?s been buzzing about it for months and thinking about this kind of upstart run for years. ?A couple of things happened,? he tells National Review Online. ?When I first went on the radio, I watched as Senator McCain pushed hard to pass the ill-fated amnesty bill of 2007, and the e-mails started coming in. Then, during the presidential campaign, more came. This year, more and more people asked me run, but it was in September, when Rasmussen came out with a poll, when things really started to click. That poll found that 61 percent of Arizona Republicans do not think that McCain shares their values or outlook. The e-mails soon after reached incredible proportions.?

One e-mail in particular stuck with Hayworth. ?I got a note from a young officer in a combat zone, a young man I had appointed to a service academy. He said he was putting himself on the line for our constitutional system and values, and challenged me, asking me if I would get in the arena to ?give him a choice, a chance to elect a conservative.? That hit me with special poignancy, and was really the moment I got off the dime. Then, when John started siccing his lawyers on me and my employer -- and, of course, after consulting with my family -- I decided to do it. I don?t want to overstate this, but the drumbeat of e-mails was important, as well as the intimidation efforts coming from McCain about whether it was appropriate for me to be on the radio while thinking about running for office -- the kind of tactic that doesn?t work with a guy like me.?

Unsurprisingly, Hayworth?s backroom panel appearance at CPAC was a little raw. He spent most of his allotted five minutes railing against Team McCain?s Federal Election Commission complaints with Randy Pullen, Arizona?s GOP chairman, looking on. The panel?s title: ?They Want Us to Shut Up: Saving Freedom and the First Amendment.? Finding the right balance between his personal antagonism toward McCain and his policy qualms with the senator is still a work in progress. (CPAC attendees, for what it?s worth, appeared to nod along much more with the latter.)

Nevertheless, Hayworth stresses that his run isn?t just about being anti-McCain. His time out of office, and on radio, he says, has given him the chance to develop his arguments and prepare for the onslaught.

Hayworth was elected to the House during the GOP?s 1994 sweep, and was reelected five times before losing in the Democratic tide of 2006. He was plagued by scandal then -- mostly by his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose clients donated nearly $70,000 to Hayworth?s campaigns over the years. It was a sour ending to a decade-plus congressional career. Since then, Hayworth has slimmed down -- thanks to elliptical-machine training -- and buffed his image with Arizonans thanks to his playful smacking of McCain?s record on-air every day from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Hayworth also says he has had time to reflect on where the GOP went wrong during its time in the majority, as well as on the importance of ?remembering the example of Ronald Reagan.? Conservatism, he adds, ?just as in the troubled times 30 years ago, is in the ascendency. It?s time to rekindle and revitalize the [GOP] in that spirit. There is a new conservative base attracting independents and a fair share of candidates.?

McCain, 73 years old and looking to win his fifth term in the upper chamber, is taking Hayworth?s bid seriously: He?s already shelled out $2.5 million to cast himself as the race?s ?true? conservative. He?s also bringing out the big guns: Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.), Sarah Palin, Steve Forbes, and Mitt Romney have all expressed their support or pledged to stump. Hayworth has had but one endorsement victory, and a qualified one at that: Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) has decided to stay ?neutral.?

While Arizona won?t hold its primary until late August, and a Rasmussen poll shows him lagging 22 points behind McCain, Hayworth is convinced that he?s the one with momentum. ?John McCain is vulnerable on everything,? he says. ?He should rename his bus the double-talk express. He has flip-flopped more than John Kerry. Everyone watching this race knows that I?m the guy who?s the conservatives? conservative here. I?m the guy who cut taxes on the Ways and Means Committee. John, well, he?s running a campaign of conservative conversion. It?s just sad and predictable. Yet he doesn?t realize that campaigning as a conservative only to legislate like a liberal won?t work anymore.?

Hayworth rolls his eyes when he hears all of McCain?s charges against him, from allegations of corruption to putdowns of Hayworth?s position on President Obama?s birth certificate. ?Look, John has been an honorable man in the past, and I thank him for his service, but he must be getting some very bad advice,? Hayworth says. ?He?s showing his desperation, early. Believe me, conservatives are noticing that he has saved his scorn for conservatives -- he never dreamt of speaking in such a fashion to Barack Obama. It?s just frantic.?

On McCain calling him a corrupt Abramoff crony, Hayworth says that he?d like to resist the impulse but will say two words in response: ?Charles Keating.? Actually, he has more to say: ?Think about it: If anything happened with [Abramoff], do you think I could run for Senate? No. The Justice Department never started an investigation; the lawyers said there was no need. There is nothing there in these charges. John knows that, and he?s desperate.?

As to whether he?s a ?birther? -- someone who believes that President Obama?s Hawaiian birth certificate may be false or illegitimate -- Hayworth sets the record straight for NRO. ?You know the standard of lefty blogs,? he says. ?If I even discuss an issue, it must mean I?m an advocate, and that?s preposterous. President Obama is the 44th president of the United States. I don?t have any serious doubts about that. I?ve talked about this because I know that -- like when I was a talk-show host -- if people want to talk about something, we?ll talk about it. This whole argument about the birth certificate is as arcane as going back and disputing the birth record of Chester Alan Arthur.?

Still, he says, he ?thinks it?s important to consider identity-theft issues? when it comes to any candidates for political office, whether they?re from Hawaii or Arizona, pointing to a recent case of a former fugitive running for local office in Scottsdale under a false name as an example. ?We should always make sure we confirm that people are who they say they are.?

As he plots his game plan for the rest of the campaign, Hayworth says he?s ready to take on McCain?s national-security record -- facing down the war hero on his strongest issue. ?John has helped to expand the rights of enemy combatants,? Hayworth says. ?We?re seeing the bitter fruit of some of the public policy tilled and watered by him, especially when he fought to get rid of enhanced-interrogation techniques. He?s allowed Barack Obama to take a bad idea and move it farther to the left.?

Hayworth says McCain?s leftward slant and President Obama?s growing unpopularity will ultimately be the key factors. ?Midterms are about the chief executive, too,? he says. ?At the same time, being a challenger requires me to scrutinize the record of the one I?m challenging, and fighting back when he says things that he knows are factually wrong. Age isn?t the issue here; I have no doubt he will work very hard. It?s about outlook. It?s time for him to come home.?

Echoing the campaign theme of Scott Brown, Hayworth says McCain is ?not entitled to the seat, regardless of his honorable service.? ?This seat belongs to the people, not one party or any personality. It belongs to the people,? he adds. ?We?ll get into trouble if we assume that a political office is for one person. One of us will win this election, and it will be because we have earned it, not because we?re entitled to it.?

With that, Hayworth takes off again -- more handshakes, more laughs, more talking. As he floats around CPAC, a one-man political band, a word comes to mind: This man is, if anything, a maverick.

-- Robert Costa is the William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow at National Review Institute.

Full post as published by Bench Memos - National Review Online on February 22, 2010 (boomark / email).