Flake–the new Arizona Maverick

Dan Nowicki writes for The Arizona Republic

Jeff Flake is positioning himself as Arizona’s Republican maverick for the future.

Once considered almost a novelty for his relentless one-man attack on House GOP spending practices and push for Cuba policy reform, many conservatives now are looking to the five-term congressman for guidance in rehabilitating the tarnished Republican brand.

And Flake, 45, recently laid the preliminary groundwork to follow two other Arizona Republican mavericks – John McCain and Barry Goldwater – into the Senate if McCain decides to retire instead of seeking re-election in 2010 or Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., chooses not to run again in 2012. In recent years, Flake has grown closer to McCain and is a loyal ally of the 2008 presidential candidate on priorities such as comprehensive immigration reform and in the battle against pork-barrel politics. He also hasn’t ruled out a possible 2010 run for governor.

Flake is taking on a more prominent role in statewide politics, partly because he is dismayed by the single-minded obsession some of his fellow Republicans continue to have toward illegal immigration. Like McCain, Flake is a strong supporter of a comprehensive reform approach that would include a temporary-worker program and the legalization of undocumented workers already in the country. That stance has drawn Flake the enmity of GOP immigration restrictionists. Click here for the rest of the story.

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