Maricopa County is the heart of McCain country. It is the most populous county in Arizona by far, and houses Phoenix, the capitol. Maricopa County's GOP held a straw poll Saturday, and here are the results (via Sonoran Alliance):

Overall Votes (662 Votes):
#1 - Mitt Romney - 28.4% (188)
#2 - Fred Thomson - 18.3% (121)
#3 - Ron Paul - 17.4% (115)
#4 - Duncan Hunter - 14.0% (93)
#5 - John McCain - 12.1% (80)
#6 - Rudy Giuliani - 5.0% (33)
#7 - Mike Huckabee - 4.8% (32)

Most Acceptable (1781 Votes):
#1 - Fred Thompson - 20.8% (370)
#2 - Duncan Hunter - 20.1% (358)
#3 - Mitt Romney - 20.0% (356)
#4 - Rudy Giuliani - 13.2% (235)
#5 - Mike Huckabee - 11.6% (207)
#6 - John McCain - 7.6% (135)
#7 - Ron Paul - 6.7% (120)

Most Unacceptable (1949 votes):
#1 - John McCain - 21.9% (427)
#2 - Ron Paul - 20.3% (396)
#3 - Rudy Giuliani - 18.3% (357)
#4 - Mike Huckabee - 17.4% (340)
#5 - Duncan Hunter - 8.0% (156)
#6 - Fred Thompson - 7.8% (152)
#7 - Mitt Romney - 6.2% (121 )

Notice that McCain finishes a distant 5th to Romney in the voting, and places first as the most unacceptable candidate amongst those who know him best.

Also, if you remove Hunter (who's already dropped out) and Thompson (who is expected to drop out this week), Romney wins every category (even without those deletions he wins two and finishes .8% behind first on the third).

McCain isn't too popular in Arizona, as a new strall poll from the Maricopa County Republican meeting straw poll on Jan. 13 reveals (reported on Sonoran Alliance--thanks to EFM for the scoop).

Of 458 ballots cast, here are the results...

First Choice for Presidential Candidate:
1. Hunter 96
2. Romney 82
3. Gingrich 53
4. McCain 50
5. Rice 27
6. Tancredo 24
7. Giuliani 22
8. Brownback 14
9. Huckabee 10
10. Hagel 2
11. Barbour 1
12. Pataki 0

Romney is second only to someone who doesn't have a legitimate chance at winning.

Unacceptable Presidential Candidates:
1. McCain 282
2. Hagel 272
3. Pataki 260
4. Giuliani 213
5. Barbour 113
6. Brownback 108
6. Huckabee 108
7. Rice 91
8. Tancredo 85
9. Gingrich 81
10. Hunter 71
11. Romney 65

Ouch! More than half of the Republicans don't find their own Senator acceptable, with Romney coming in last in a poll that one would want to be the caboose.

Acceptable Presidential Candidates:
1. Rice 269
2. Gingrich 265
3. Romney 239
4. Tancredo 219
5. Barbour 182
6. Brownback 178
7. Huckabee 167
7. Hunter 167
8. Giuliani 157
9. McCain 89
10. Pataki 70
11. Hagel 28

Again, Rice isn't going to run, and Gingrich won't make a decision until September, entering only if someone hasn't locked it up. By the time the primary roles around it will likely be only McCain and Romney with the money and organization to be taken seriously by the majority of voters.

With 62% of the voters already deeming McCain unacceptable (and only 14% feeling that way about Romney), and merely 19% viewing the Senator as a viable choice (with 52% seeing Romney as acceptable), McCain would have to change a lot of minds to win. That's tough to do after you've lived with him for a quarter of a century.

While McCain is stronger in other counties than conservative Maricopa, this still isn't good news for him. The Arizona primary is early in the 2008 race, and a loss in his home state could be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Arizona Senator.