Thursday, March 18, 2010

Democrat Nan Walden vs. John McCain?

Posted By on Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 6:48 PM

There have been persistent rumors that the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is trying to recruit somebody other than City Councilman Rodney Glassman to run for Sen. John McCain's Senate seat, especially with McCain facing a hard challenge from the right in the form of former congressman J.D. Hayworth.

Now Politico names Democrat Nan Walden as a potential candidate:

As Sen. John McCain works to beat back a primary challenge from the right, Arizona businesswoman Nan Stockholm Walden is taking a look at entering the Senate race on the Democratic side, according to Democrats in Arizona and in Washington.

Walden, an executive at Farmers Investment Co. who served as a staffer for former Democratic Sens. Bill Bradley and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, could provide her party with a credible, well financed candidate in the event that McCain loses or is severely wounded in his nomination fight with former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Democrats said.

"She could be quite formidable. She has a national network. She's been very plugged in with women donors — particularly, I think, in Senate races," one Arizona Democrat told POLITICO.

"Where this thing becomes a real live wire, obviously, is the point at which McCain loses the primary," the Democrat continued. "At that point it's just, who is the person who's there with the right profile, who can reach the kind of Arizona independents with a libertarian streak that runs hard in voters here?"

Walden's company owns a large pecan farm with several hundred employees, and she could be in a position to run as an outsider with private sector experience in an anti-Washington year.

Complete story here.

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