After bashing conservative Republicans in recent months, John McCain says he has received calls to run again in 2016.
The Arizona Republic reported, via The Washington Post:
“Particularly since the shutdown, I’ve had a spate of e-mails and letters and phone calls saying, ‘Run for president again,'” McCain told The Arizona Republic. “As you know, I’m seriously thinking about running for re-election to the Senate. But I think, in the words of the late Morris K. Udall, as far as my presidential ambitions are concerned, ‘The people have spoken — the bastards.'”
In his book Too Funny To Be President, Udall, D-Ariz., attributed the quote to California Democrat Dick Tuck. Udall unsuccessfully sought the 1976 Democratic nomination for president.
While even McCain agrees that another presidential candidacy seems far-fetched, Bruce Merrill, a veteran Arizona political scientist and pollster, told The Republic he has fielded multiple calls from out-of-state reporters this year investigating the possibility.