According to the latest poll from Scott Rasmussen, Senator John McCain holds a 12-point lead over his GOP primary challenger J.D. Hayworth.
This is a significant jump from a poll conducted a month ago, where Rasmussen showed McCain with only a five-point lead, but that's not stopping the pollster from comparing McCain's campaign to that of long-time Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, defeated in his own primary fight last night.
Specter, the incumbent, lost to Congressman Joe Sestak, the challenger, and Rasmussen seems to think McCain could be headed down the same path with J.D. Hayworth.
"Specter, defeated by Joe Sestak, led in just about all early polling but could never get much above the 50 percent level of support," the latest poll claims. McCain's support "is stuck in a narrow range between 47 percent and 53 percent."
This, of course, has the Hayworth campaign jumping for joy.
"This is not the year to be an insider, and John McCain is the biggest insider of them all," says Hayworth campaign manger David Payne.
Payne may want to consider the following bits of information before breaking out the champagne.
Up until about a year ago, Specter was a Republican and he never really explained to voters why he made the switcheroo -- many say it was because he knew he'd never get re-elected as a Republican, so it's not too shocking to see him get knocked off by a real Democrat in a Democratic primary.
Not to mention, the person who beat Specter is a current member of Congress -- not someone who was voted out of office after a link to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Hayworth was never charged with any crimes, but the connection didn't do much to help his street cred.
"By election day, voters will know they have a choice between John McCain's tired politics of the past and J.D. Hayworth's hopeful message of bringing the right kind of change to Washington," Payne continued.
We'll see about that.
