LISTEN: Arizona Senator McCain Considering Re-election Run In 2016

Arizona Senator John McCain spent an hour this morning on news-talk radio station KFYI (550AM), and made news when he said publicly for the first time that he is considering running for re-election in 2016.

McCain is 77 years old now, but remains at the center of the intra-GOP discussions about the direction of the Republican party.  When discussing members of his party who are upset with him with talk show host Barry Young,  the one-time GOP presidential nominee used plenty of qualifiers, but certainly wanted to get the message across that he is not backing down.

The audio from the interview and the rest of his one-hour appearance in the studio is below.  In the first hour, he comes on at the 11-minute mark.  That discussion is about Obamacare and the government shutdown.



McCain picks up the Obamacare discussion in the 2nd hour, before (the nearly-famous Barry) Young asks about his future plans, and questions from listeners.  McCain went back to his military background to note that shutting down the government to try to bring down Obamacare was "an unachievable mission".

He refuted the first two callers upset with his anti-shutdown position by urging them to talk to the mayor of Tusayan and the people working privately near the Grand Canyon.

Young was carefully supportive of McCain's positions, and gave him the opportunity to address the Republicans who oppose him.  McCain took the opportunity, first citing President Ronald Reagan's quotes about not speaking ill of fellow Republicans and noting that people who he agrees with 80% of the time are his friends.  He paused, and then delivered his message to the conservatives upset with him:

"I'll match my voting record with anyone's, Kyle (the last caller).  And, I may, I'm seriously thinking about maybe giving another opportunity for you to vote for or against me in a few years from now.  I'm seriously giving that a lot of thought."  He goes on to note that the business community is urging him to do so. (Answer begins at about the 9-minute mark below.)

McCain is presently in his 5th six-year term representing Arizona in the U.S. Senate.



McCain took three calls in the hour.  All three calls (on this strongly-conservative-leaning radio station) were from people upset with McCain.

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