The recall application filed Tuesday with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office accuses McCain of "shirking his duties as a senator from the great state of Arizona" and of having "acquiesced in his role as a member of the legislative branch to strongly check the power of the chief executive, who has for all intents and purposes become a king."
"Please, help restore our democracy, recall 'Bloody John McCain,' " the handwritten application says.
McCain's Senate office did not respond to requests for comment. McCain was elected to his fourth Senate term in 2004 and is not up for re-election until 2010.
The recall group faces long odds. It must collect 381,696 valid petition signatures by June 13 to force a statewide vote. That is 25 percent of all votes cast in the 2004 Senate election. Although McCain is a federal officeholder not bound by the Arizona Constitution's recall provisions, he has signed a voluntary pledge on file with the Secretary of State's Office agreeing to resign immediately if defeated in a recall election.
About 30 people are helping with the recall, Crum said.
The two men behind the recall have challenged Republicans in the past, but recall committee chairman Leonard Clark said he considers the recall a nonpartisan effort.
Clark, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and who sometimes writes on the liberal Daily Kos blog site, last year sought to challenge Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. But he failed to collect the minimum signatures to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot.
Crum, an independent, has run three write-in campaigns against Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and plans to do so again in 2008.
McCain also was the target of a recall campaign in 2001. That effort was primarily driven by conservatives upset with McCain's stances on campaign-finance reform and gun owners' rights and for voting against President Bush's sweeping tax-cut package. Organizers dropped the recall after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. |
