Sen. John McCain fended off Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth in the Arizona Senate primary Tuesday, virtually assuring he'll keep his seat in November despite signs earlier in the year that an anti-Washington wave could wipe out one of Capitol Hill's most influential leaders.

Hayworth at one point in the campaign seemed poised to leverage Tea Party support and give McCain a run for his political life. Outsider challenges had already led to the primary defeats for Republican Utah Sen. Bob Bennett and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, and McCain was potentially vulnerable nearly two years after losing the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama.

But Hayworth struggled to build his anti-establishment credentials and seriously erode McCain's popularity in the polls. Though Hayworth slammed McCain for voting for the Wall Street bailout and allegedly being soft on illegal immigration, McCain worked hard to show he was tough on border security...

A grassroots borders enforcement organization is joining the growing call for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to dispatch National Guard troops to the Mexican border in the wake of the recent brutal murder of an Arizona rancher.

The murder of Robert Krentz on his own property has sparked an outrage among border-control advocates. Former Congressmen Tom Tancredo and J.D. Hayworth, along with many state lawmakers from border states, have called for troops to be deployed to the border. (See related story)

William Gheen is president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), which has officially joined that call. "We feel that troops at the border, stopping the flow of illegal aliens and drugs north in a better capacity -- as we know is possible -- would help protect American jobs, wages, health, and very lives," he states...

After coming within a few million votes of the presidency, John McCain is suddenly facing the toughest re-election fight of his nearly 24-year Senate career.

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth is slated Monday to kick off his campaign for the U.S. Senate with a three-day, 10-city tour across Arizona. Mr. Hayworth, 51, a favorite of the insurgent "tea party" movement and a border-security hawk, is running as a younger, brasher, more conservative alternative to Mr. McCain, who turns 74 a few days after the Republican Party's Aug. 24 primary.

"I have a lot of respect for John McCain - he's served this nation admirably - but this is about policy," Mr. Hayworth said in a telephone interview. "Although he describes himself as a maverick, he's really a moderate. So many people have reached out to me and said, 'Please, we need a conservative senator.'"....