Rancher's murder in Texas a flash point for McCain

Just a few short hours after a helicopter crew spotted the body of southern Arizona cattle rancher Robert Krentz slumped in his all-terrain vehicle on March 27, the unsolved murder became a flash point for the increasingly close Arizona Republican Senate primary election between incumbent Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and his militarize-the-border opponent, J.D. Hayworth, a former Arizona congressman, TV weatherman, and conservative radio talk-show host.

Although the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the killing, refuses to speculate on the nationality or sex of the unknown person who shot Krentz and his dog (which was later euthanized), many in Arizona have already made up their minds that either a Mexican drug cartel thug or an undocumented immigrant killed the rancher. This is due in part to the sheriff’s revelation that Krentz’s last garbled radio message to his brother included the words illegal alien and hurt, and partly due to the fact that trackers followed footprints for about 20 miles from the Krentz murder scene to the Mexican border.

Hayworth adviser Chris Simcox says that McCain, the Bush and Obama administrations, and anyone else who supports “amnesty” for “illegal aliens” can be held responsible for Krentz’s death because amnesty advocates don’t support secure borders.

Not yet candidate Rudy Giuliani up 13 points on incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand for NY Senate

Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand may have a serious problem on her hands if Rudy Giuliani gets in next year’s race for the U.S. Senate in New York State.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state finds Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York City, leading Gillibrand by 13 points – 53% to 40%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and just two percent (2%) are undecided.

News reports that Giuliani has ruled out a run for governor next year and is interested In the Senate race could turn Gillibrand’s bid to fill out the rest of Hillary Clinton’s term from a close struggle to an uphill climb.