by Dan Nowicki, columnist - Jul. 25, 2010
U.S. Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth's attack on an Arizona lawman popular with Republican border-security hawks has generated some blowback to his campaign.
Hayworth last week demanded that incumbent Sen. John McCain, his GOP primary target, yank all television ads featuring Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu after Babeu made an appearance on a "pro-White" Tennessee-based radio program that once hosted former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Babeu has acknowledged that going on the show was a mistake, and some supporters of Hayworth, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, are defending him.
"Sheriff Paul Babeu supports SB 1070 (Arizona's immigration law) and is against illegal immigration," Arpaio said in a written statement provided to The Arizona Republic by Tim Gaffney, Babeu's spokesman. "Paul is no more a racist than any good American who wants to secure our border and stop illegal immigration."
Babeu is familiar to many TV viewers as the sheriff who spoke the line "Senator, you're one of us" in McCain's now-famous "danged fence" commercial about border security. Babeu currently is appearing with other Arizona sheriffs in another pro-McCain TV spot.
Hayworth said that if McCain doesn't take down the Babeu ads, "that speaks volumes about the man who loves saying that character matters."
"David Duke, Paul Babeu, John McCain - certainly the senior senator from Arizona does not want to be at that party," Hayworth said Wednesday in a written statement.
But the Hayworth tactic spurred pushback from some Facebook users writing on his campaign fan page:
• Will Barks: "I think you are off base on this one JD. Kill McCain on
his record and the facts. Don't tear down a good Sheriff to do it."
• Cindy Burgess Lunde: "Come on JD, you're above this. You have my vote, but this is a mistake. I think Babeu is supporting the wrong guy, but I also think he's doing a great job in his county fighting illegal immigration."
• Dawn Luptak: "JD, I am one of your biggest supporters, but I
think this is beneath you. It is turning some people off to you."
The Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, which is supporting McCain, issued a news release Thursday in which its president called on Hayworth to apologize to Babeu.
Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which has endorsed Hayworth, also defended Babeu in a written statement provided by Gaffney. Spencer called media criticism of Babeu "unwarranted and misdirected.
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