Arizona reflects: State prepares for events.
One of Doug Ducey’s most memorable experiences with John McCain involved nearly throwing up in front of him.
The men were on a small propeller plane, the governor said, “hopscotching around the state” while campaigning one August.
It was more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The air flow wasn’t good. And the plane wouldn’t stop bouncing.
“I was turning green, and I think everyone else on the flight was turning green,” Ducey said. “The plane dropped what seemed like 200 feet in the air before it stabilized, and everyone could feel their stomachs come up in their throat.”
Everyone except for Sen. McCain. “(He) yelled up to the pilots, ‘Do it again!’” Ducey said, laughing. “Every time someone gets sick on a commercial plane, I think ‘You’re lucky that didn’t happen in front of John McCain.’”
Reflecting on his 10-year relationship with the late senator during an interview with The Arizona Republic on Sunday, the governor made it clear McCain rarely went easy on anyone.
He recalled a summit McCain held in Sedona, for instance, where newly elected Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., didn’t arrive until 3 a.m. but was expected to start at 7 a.m. sharp.
Ducey said the senator applied those same strict standards to himself.
The governor described attending a 2013 town hall at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, where McCain confronted a tense crowd. Ducey couldn’t remember precisely what people were upset about at the time, but “something was really broiling,” he said.
“There were a number of people that I knew to be his friends inside the room, and … he never called on his friend, who likely would’ve asked him a softball question,” he said. “He called on a guy that was upset, sometimes frothing at the mouth, and he gave them the answer, regardless of what it was.
“I learned a lot from being able to observe him up close."
Ducey visited McCain’s Cornville ranch in May
The governor portrayed McCain as “comfortable and confident,” saying he had a personality that was “bigger than the room.” Ducey "thought the world" of McCain, he said, and "was very proud that he represented Arizona on the national and international stage."
The pair also maintained a friendship outside of politics, Ducey said, attending Arizona Cardinals games and spending time at the McCains’ Sedona-area property.
The governor and his wife, Angela, visited John and Cindy McCain there in May, three months before the senator’s death.
McCain had been receiving radiation and chemotherapy for glioblastoma, the aggressive form of brain cancer he’d been diagnosed with a year ago. But he and his family spent hours with the Duceys, having a “wonderful lunch” and enjoying that “beautiful part of the state,” the governor said.
“He was having a very good day,” Ducey said. “The HBO special (and McCain documentary) ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ had been premiered the night before. His book had just come off the presses … And the first thing he said to Angela and I was that his biggest challenge right now was whether or not he was going to run for reelection in 2022.
"He was still battling, and we were still hopeful at the time," Ducey said. "And there was nobody tougher in the U.S. Senate than John McCain."
Ducey has said he will wait to appoint McCain's successor until after the senator has been buried and declined to discuss the upcoming appointment Sunday. A spokesman said Ducey, who is seeking re-election this fall, will not attend any campaign events this week "out of respect."