McCain uses $20M in campaign money, tough ads on rival to turnaround GOP primary race

McCain turns vulnerable label into front-runner

GILBERT, Ariz. — Sen. John McCain has become the clear front-runner in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary in Arizona after a summer in which he was often tagged as a vulnerable incumbent.

McCain has spent some $20 million and cast his Republican opponent, J.D. Hayworth, as a late-night infomercial huckster in a series of devastating ads.

Long unpopular with some home-state conservatives, McCain recognized the threat posed by Hayworth, a talk-radio host and former six-term congressman from Scottsdale. And he set out to neutralize it, tossing aside his “maverick” label and adopting a hard-line stand on immigration.

One poll last month showed McCain with a lead of as much as 45 percentage points.