PHOENIX, June 3 (UPI) -- Democrat U.S. Senate hopeful Stuart Starky travelled 7,000 miles across Arizona in the past 60 days in pursuit of a challenge to the GOP's John McCain.
As the Arizona Republic reported Thursday, "The hard work paid off."
Starky, who is considered a long-shot, gathered enough petition signatures to earn a spot on the November general election ballot, where he will face off against McCain, a former GOP presidential candidate who has served in the Senate since 1986.
"This is unbelievable," Starky said. "Senator McCain is a great guy, but there is a big difference between us. He wants to send more troops to Iraq, and I want to set a deadline to get our troops out of there."
Starky filed well more than the 4,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
Aides to McCain filed a public-records request with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office seeking a look at Starky's signatures, which the newspaper called, "An an indication they will verify his paperwork and signatures in hopes of finding enough discrepancies to keep him off the ballot."
McCain's campaign had no comment when asked about his new Democratic challenger.
