Senator John McCain satisfies his gigantic ego. He will run again in 2016.

By Rob Janicki
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday publicly announced he will run again in 2016 for re-election and a sixth term in the U.S. Senate representing Arizona.  McCain will be 80 years old by the election in November 2016.  He claims to be in great shape and feels he has more work to do in the Senate.  Feeling great today does not mean McCain will even be able to competently entertain a competitive campaign, should another Republican choose to oppose his candidacy.   

Still further, it becomes problematical if McCain will even be able to fulfill his duties and his entire term of office, if re-elected.  When a person gets to be McCain's age (he is currently 78), changes in health can happen swiftly and rapidly become very debilitating .  This is where McCain's possible age  attenuated physical and mental abilities come into play.  Will McCain embarrass himself and Arizona with another term in the Senate as his various capacities diminish?  Only time will tell, but it's certain he won't add anything to conservative causes in Congress.  McCain has previously railed against the Tea Party and wasn't exactly statesmanlike in his disparaging remarks in doing so.  Apparently McCain never subscribed to Ronald Reagan's 11 Commandment, which simply states that no Republican will speak ill of another Republican.  Who can forget how McCain attacked first term Senator, Ted Cruz (R-TX), a Tea Party favorite, by calling Cruz a wacko bird, when Cruz, to make a point on the Senate floor, filibustered the Senate for over 21 hours back in 2013?

The Arizona Republican Party censured McCain in 2014 ostensibly for not being conservative enough for Arizona, no doubt for his rebukes of conservatives in Congress, while siding with Democrats on many issues.  Many conservatives inside and outside of Arizona have called McCain a RINO for his many instances of sidling up to Democrats for no apparent advantage to conservative causes.  Although McCain is from Arizona, he certainly is no Goldwater conservative or anything close.  McCain indisputably has an ego the size of the Grand Canyon and his latest announcement addresses that gigantic ego

There has been no rush to challenge McCain in the Republican Senatorial primary in 2016.  However, an Arizona state senator, Kelli Ward, has let it be known that she is considering a possible run against McCain.  The problem for Ward is raising funds to be competitive in what would be a grueling campaign against McCain, who is reported to already have a campaign war chest of $3 million dollars and most likely has deep pocket supporters willing to fill his coffers for re-election.  Ward has previously indicated that it would take $10 million dollars to become competitive in a campaign against McCain.  It's uncertain at this point in time where a state senator could come up with that kind of financing to confront McCain, a legend in his own mind.