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John McCain is taking a break this weekend from his own primary campaign to stump for a Senate candidate in a neighboring state. The longtime Arizona senator is heading to Denver and Grand Junction on Sunday to campaign alongside Jane Norton days before Colorado voters head to the polls.

Norton, a former lieutenant governor, is locked in a competitive primary bout with Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, who's ahead in the polls with a week to go.

The Norton campaign says the event will focus on national security, including highlighting Buck's "uneven" and "flip-flopping" stance on Afghanistan.

"This critical juncture is not the time to waffle back and forth on a timetable for retreat in Afghanistan," Norton says in a press release. "The brave men and women of our fighting forces are committed to dismantling the insurgency. John McCain knows that we can never retreat from terrorism, and I am grateful for his support."

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports that "Buck on Monday took a swipe at McCain, saying the onetime presidential candidate was 'greasing the power brokers' to pay for attacks on him."

McCain was once thought to be in a competitive primary of his own, but recent polls show the Aug. 24 contest against former Rep. J.D. Hayworth is no longer close. A Rasmussen poll released last week found McCain ahead by 20 points, and another this week finds McCain leading Democrat Rodney Glassman in the general election by 19 points.