Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was confronted at a town hall meeting Monday over comments he made from the Senate floor last month in which he used the term “Tea Party hobbits.” “What apology is in order?” McCain responded when asked if he would apologize for the remark, as reported by the East Valley Tribune. “What was wrong that I said?” In his floor speech on June 28, McCain read from a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial that drew a parallel between some Tea Party members and characters in the epic The Lord of the Rings/Josiah Ryan, The Hill's Floor Action Blog. (AP photo)

Question: Aren't hobbits cute & courageous? Would you be offended if someone referred to you as a hobbit?

There once was a time when Arizona Sen. John McCain warmly embraced the label “maverick.” He seemed to delight in taking positions at odds with his party - or even his state’s - orthodoxy. He had established himself firmly in the tradition of some of the great Senate mavericks of the past - LaFollette, Borah, even Goldwater. But just as BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” brand washed away in the Gulf oil spill, so has McCain’s maverick brand forever vanished thanks to his presidential election run and his ugly, but still decisive, victory yesterday in the GOP primary in Arizona. McCain, by all odds, will be back in the Senate post-November, but not as a maverick and likely not ever again as an interesting, important American political player/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Post. More here. (AP file photo)

• With a name like ‘Huck,’ he has to be good/Dennis Mansfield
• Ken Mehlman’s gay? Meh/Fort Boise
• Crapo unwittingly publicizes contradiction in GOP strategy/Sisyphus, 43rdSB
• Beginning of the end for UIdaho law school?/IdaBlue
• 90 years ago, a woman’s vote/Rick Johnson, Idaho Conservation League
• A shift from Labrador elseshere, and: How many ‘opposers’?/Randy Stapilus
  

Question: Which national politician today best exemplifies the label “maverick”?

U.S. Sen.  John  McCain, R-AZ., leaves his polling station earlier today in Phoenix after casting his vote in the Arizona primary election.  McCain is being challenged by former Congressman J.D. Hayworth. An AP story reports that McCain and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are poised to win bitter primary fights against Tea Party opponents today here. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Question: Any predictions re: surprises in primary elections around the nation today?

China Gum, a spokeswoman for Labrador, did little to walk back the candidate’s remarks, noting only that Labrador had voted for the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 while Minnick has supported Democrats for president, including Barack Obama. “Raul Labrador has voted for all Republican presidential candidates as did the overwhelming majority of Idaho voters in the 1st Congressional District,” said Gum. “So who best represents the 1st CD? The conservative Raul Labrador or the smooth Walt Minnick?” Minnick campaign manager John Foster fired back at Labrador’s camp, taking McCain’s side. “Walt would never, as Labrador has done, question the ethics and principles of an American hero who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war,” Foster said/Politico. More here. (AP photo: John McCain in Mesa, Ariz., earlier this month)

Question: Will Raul Labrador’s lack of enthusiasm for former Republican presidential candidate John McCain haunt him in his congressional race?