Phoenix — “Senator McCain, what do you make of Arizonans who think that for the last ten years you’ve been America’s senator, and not Arizona’s senator?” That, from a local reporter here in Phoenix, was one of the opening questions last week when John McCain held his first press conference since losing the presidential race on November 4. McCain’s purpose was to announce that he will run for reelection in 2010 and to say, in effect, “Remember me? I’m your senator.” The reporter’s question was to remind McCain that a number of people in this state aren’t entirely happy about that. “I’m very proud to have served, and I’m proud during that period to have been elected and reelected,” McCain answered. “I will be glad to point to my record as chairman of the Indian Affairs committee, and Armed Services, and all the other issues and legislative accomplishments, ranging from protecting the Grand Canyon to issues affecting our border and our economy. I’m very proud of my record.” What a difference a month makes. Off the presidential campaign trail, with the media world focused on the Obama transition office in Chicago, McCain was standing, in front of a small background of American and Arizona flags, before perhaps 15 or 20 reporters, nearly all of them local. And he was talking about Indian affairs and the Grand Canyon. For the next two years, at least, John McCain is again the senator from Arizona. But now that he has lost the presidency, there are some Republicans in Arizona who would like to see him lose his Senate office, too. “I’ll do anything I can to support his Republican opponent, whoever that might be,” Rob Haney – who until last week was chairman of the Republican party in Arizona’s District 11 – told me recently. Haney has been a loud and vocal critic of McCain for years, arguing that McCain is “not a conservative in any way, shape, or form.” Haney understands that ousting McCain, who first won a House seat in 1982 and has never lost an election here, would be very, very tough. “It would be a long shot,” Haney admitted. But Haney and other anti-McCain types see some reason for hope. In the Arizona Republican primary this year — which, as part of the Super Tuesday contests, came after McCain had essentially wrapped up the nomination — McCain won just 47 percent of the vote. (Second-place finisher Mitt Romney got 35 percent.) And in the general election, McCain beat Barack Obama by a 54-45 margin — a relatively small margin in McCain’s home state. Even McCain’s partisans concede it wasn’t exactly a show of strength. “We would have certainly preferred [the win] to be in double digits,” one member of the McCain Arizona team told me this week. “But Arizona was impacted by national issues, just like the rest of the country.” In McCain’s lackluster wins, Haney sees an opportunity. “The competition McCain has had before really were not big names or anything that would give him a problem,” Haney told me. “If he had a big name against him, it might present a problem. In the presidential primary, most Republicans preferred a different candidate than McCain, so if he went head-to-head against one candidate, and his record was made an issue, that might be a problem.” But who might that big name be? Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation do not seem inclined to take on their senior senator. For the moment, Haney and others are putting their hope in J. D. Hayworth, the former congressman who now has a radio talk show in Phoenix. On the air, Hayworth has pushed particularly hard on the issue of illegal immigration, labeling McCain’s “comprehensive” reform proposal an amnesty plan. When I talked to Hayworth about a possible candidacy, he didn’t say yes, and he didn’t say no. “That’s very flattering, but I don’t know,” Hayworth told me. “That’s in the future. Obviously I have some polite but profound disagreements with John.” “It’s way too early to talk about a Senate campaign right now,” Hayworth continued. “I’ve got to assess where I am in life. There are family concerns. I just turned 50 in July. You’ve got a situation where you’ve got your parents growing up, you growing up, and your kids growing up. All of those concerns occupy your time at home.” Nevertheless, Hayworth told me that “a steady drumbeat” of his radio listeners have encouraged him to take the plunge. When I asked whether state powerbrokers have also urged him to run, he told me, “I think a lot of them would like to remain anonymous.” If Hayworth entered the race, McCain’s Republican opponents would finally have a high-profile candidate. But could he win? “Certainly [Hayworth] has name I.D., but he would have to change his central focus to get election statewide,” the Team McCain member told me. “You have to remember that he made immigration reform the centerpiece of his last election in 2006. And he lost.” And Haney himself just lost a bid to keep the chairmanship of the GOP in District 11, the largest and most prominent district in the state. Although Haney will likely end up in some other position in the party, the fact is, he was (narrowly) defeated by a more moderate candidate. “He’d rather be pure and lose than compromise and win,” the McCain aide said of Haney. So here in his home state, as in Washington, McCain continues to frustrate some in the Republican party. But the betting is, at this time in 2010, he’ll still be doing the same thing — with a new six-year term in the Senate.