ROUND ROCK, Texas - John McCain on Friday distanced himself from evangelical leader John Hagee two days after the Republican presidential front-runner appeared with the controversial preacher to receive his endorsement.

“When he endorses me it does not mean that I endorse everything that he stands for,” McCain said at a news conference. “I don’t have to agree with everyone who endorses my candidacy.”

Hagee, who leads the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, is best known for his unwavering support for Israel. In his books, he describes a blood-soaked apocalypse in which the anti-Christ turns out to be the head of the European Union.

Hagee has also written some not-so-nice things about the Catholic Church. In his latest book, “Jerusalem Countdown,” he accuses the Church of conspiring with Adolph Hitler to destroy the Jews.

McCain declined to comment when asked about Hagee’s writings on Wednesday.

But after several Catholic groups objected, McCain said he did not necessarily agree with some of Hagee’s more colorful opinions.

“I am very proud of Pastor John Hagee’s spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and freedom of the state of Israel,” McCain said. “That does not mean I support or endorse or agree with some of the things that Pastor Hagee may have said nor positions he may have taken on other issues.”

We’ll see if Hagee appears at any events with McCain when the Arizona senator returns to San Antonio next week.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (McCain during a town hall meeting.)

RICHARDSON, Texas - Republican candidate John McCain has had trouble winning over some of his party’s conservatives, who suspect that deep down he’s not one of them. On Thursday, McCain may have confirmed their suspicions with a slip of the tongue.

“I’m a proud conservative, liberal Republic…,” McCain said before catching himself.

“Conservative Republican,” he said deliberately, as the crowd at a brand-new Texas Instruments manufacturing plant laughed. “Hello, easy there. Let me say this: I am a proud conservative Republican, and both of my likely opponents today are liberal Democrats.”

The Arizona senator had another gaffe later on when he described how he will take on the eventual Democratic nominee.

“It’ll be dispirited,” he said. “It’ll be spirited. Because there are stark differences.”

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi (McCain takes a question at Texas Instruments on Thursday)

Forget the Iraq war, universal health care or the worsening economy. US Weekly peppered Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with questions it says only a celebrity magazine dare ask.

Are you a cool dad?

“I think I’m pretty cool. I’m sure I could embarrass my girls, but I choose not to,” said Obama, who has two daughters, 6 and 9.

The Illinois senator said that even when he danced with entertainer Ellen DeGeneres on U.S. television: “I thought (my moves) were pretty sweet. That’s why my 9-year-old isn’t embarrassed — because I can ‘bust a move’ as they say.”

Do Malia and Sasha ever ask about Britney Spears?

“They’re pretty down on Britney and Paris and all of that. They think they’re very ‘yuck,’” Obama said. “They’re way more into Hannah Montana and Beyonce.”

Do you ever get starstruck?

“I don’t really get starstruck,” Obama said. But George Clooney is a friend and he worked with the actor on Darfur issues.

Does wife Michelle Obama have a celebrity crush?

“She loves Stevie Wonder.”

Your favorite foods?

Chili and cobbler, the senator said. Wife Michelle says Obama makes a mean chili.

Boxers or briefs?

“I don’t answer those humiliating questions. But whichever one it is, I look good in ‘em!”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Matt Sullivan (Obama speaks at Ohio State)

CHICAGO - With religion playing its usual prominent role in the lengthy U.S. presidential election campaign, some churches are again finding themselves in trouble with the taxman. 

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service — watchdog for what churches can do and still keep their tax-exempt status — has alerted at least two organizations that they may have crossed the line by engaging in forbidden “political activities.”

The United Church of Christ announced recently that it had received a letter from the IRS that it was  under investigation because of a speech that Senator Barack Obama – Democratic presidential hopeful and a member of that church — gave to its General Synod last year.

Obama spoke to about 10,000 people at the gathering, a few months after he had formally announced as a presidential candidate. The Cleveland-based church said he was one of only 60 speakers and the church did nothing improper or illegal.

Meanwhile the Los Angeles Times reports that the IRS has opened a similar inquiry into the Rev. Wiley Drake, a prominent Southern Baptist preacher in Buena Park, California, because he endorsed Mike Huckabee’s Republican presidential nomination bid in a written statement on church letterhead and on a church-related Internet radio show.

Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, is also a Southern Baptist preacher.

“Pastors and churches have 1st Amendment rights just like everybody else,” the newspaper quoted Erik Stanley, an attorney as saying. “Wiley Drake has the same right to make a personal endorsement as anybody.”

But the newspaper said the Americans United for Separation of Church and State had blown the whistle on the matter six month ago and asked for an IRS investigation.

Such probes are not new or different. The IRS investigated the liberal All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, for nearly two years because of an anti-war sermon delivered there during the 2004 presidential election campaign.

That probe was finally ended in September with the IRS concluding the church had indeed intervened in the election campaign. But it left its tax-exempt status alone, saying it was convinced the church had policies in place to assure compliance with the law and that the matter was a “one-time occurrence.”

The church later demanded the IRS issue an apology for going after it in the first place.

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Democrats - and especially Hillary Clinton -- look like winners this year to the Walt Disney Co.

The House of Mouse has given 64 percent of its total political contributions so far in the 2008 election cycle to Dems and has showered Clinton with more Mickeybucks than any other presidential contender this year, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Disney has shelled out more than $424,585 in political donations during the current election cycle, putting its election spending on track with its 2004 total, the data showed, and  maintaining the favoritism it has shown for Democrats since at least 1990. 

While Democrats have long controlled the California statehouse, Disney operates its home resort, its profit powerhouse, Walt Disney World resort, in GOP-controlled Florida.

It isn't saving the money it's not spending on Republicans either. The data showed the company's lobbying budget has more than doubled to $4.5 million over the past decade.

In the media world, however, Disney's aggregate campaign spending was dwarfed by that of Time Warner Inc, which has laid out more than $1 million so far this year mainly to Democrats. If its contributions to the presidential candidates are any indication, the media conglomerate sees Barack Obama as the next Commander-in-Chief -- but only by a slim margin.

TYLER, Texas - The race for the Republican nomination isn’t over yet, and Mike Huckabee would like one more chance to match wits with front-runner John McCain before a potentially decisive round of contests next week.  Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, challenged McCain to a debate before March 4, when Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island hold primaries that could clinch the nomination for McCain.

“Now that the race for the Republican nomination is down to just the two of us, I believe this is the time for a real discussion about our vision for the future of this great country,” Huckabee wrote.

(Actually, the race isn’t just down to the two of them. Texas Rep. Ron Paul is still running and might not appreciate being left off the stage. But we digress.)

Huckabee has scaled back his campaigning efforts since Feb. 5, when a string of coast-to-coast primary victories made McCain the all-but-certain nominee. Another debate would give him a chance to show off his folksy charisma and stand on equal footing with a candidate who has amassed far more delegates and dollars.

At a press conference in Cincinnati, McCain did not rule out another debate.

“We’ve had 16 debates since this campaign began and I’ve been engaged in every one of them, so I’d certainly consider it,” McCain said.

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Photo Credit: Reuters/John Grass - Mike Huckabee campaigning in Appleton, Wisconsin on Feb. 18.

WASHINGTON - Republicans have historically had a tough time winning the votes of African Americans — and will have to do a lot of work to win them over this election year, outgoing President George W. Bush says.

“The Republican candidate is going to have to, one, show heart, two, explain why policies will make a difference in the lives of the African-American citizen,” Bush said in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks. “We’ve got a lot of hard work to do.”

He acknowledged that rival Democrats have been successful at winning the black vote — noting that he got “whomped pretty significantly” in his campaigns — and chastised his party for not doing enough to compete for it.

“My attitude is that at the very minimum there ought to be competition at least for votes, people shouldn’t take your vote for granted,” Bush said. “But in order for there to be competition, the party’s got to have what I used to call compassionate conservative agenda.”

He pointed to his faith-based initiatives as one way to reach black communities, highlighting the work by churches.

But whether the expected Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, will have better luck remains to be seen — especially if his Democratic opponent is Sen. Barack Obama, who is black. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Bush with The Temptations on Feb. 12 at a White House celebration of Black History month.)

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gushed on Tuesday that his Democratic Party has two “outstanding candidates” but fell silent about who he prefers for the presidential nomination.

Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois are battling for the nomination which could come down to who the Democratic superdelegates support — Reid is one of them so his backing could be crucial.

“I can’t hear a word you are saying. Okay?” Reid told reporters when asked the question, drawing laughter.

Reid is one of 796 superdelegates — members of Congress and other party leaders — who will have a vote at the Democratic presidential nominating convention this summer. Superdelegates will join the delegates won by Clinton and Obama in state contests nationwide.

If neither secure the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination by the time the convention convenes, superdelegates will end up deciding who is the party’s 2008 standard bearer.

Reid, who represents Nevada in the Senate, has remained neutral in the race. But his son, Rory Reid, a county commissioner in Nevada, helped Clinton win the state presidential contest earlier this year.

Reid brushed off a question if there would be risks to the party if the nomination race isn’t soon wrapped up.

“We have two outstanding candidates, Clinton and Obama,” Reid said. “When this is decided — I don’t know when it will be decided — but the other will step behind the other one and support them 100 percent.”

“I am totally satisfied with this process.  I think it’s been the best presidential election that I’ve been involved in,” Reid said.  

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts (Reid speaks to reporters earlier this year.)
   

CINCINNATI - Republican candidate John McCain on Tuesday disavowed comments by a local talk-radio host who called Democrat Barack Obama a “hack Chicago-style Daley politician” at a campaign stop here.

Conservative radio host Bill Cunningham warmed up the crowd of several hundred by referring repeatedly to the Democratic presidential front-runner as “Barack Hussein Obama” and slamming national media for what he described as sympathetic coverage of Democrats.

Cunningham also said former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, “looks like death warmed over.”

Cunningham’s “Daley politician” remark was a reference to former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, the last of the big-city political bosses, who ran Chicago for more than 20 years until his death in 1976. His son, Richard M. Daley, is the city’s current mayor.

At a press conference after the rally, McCain immediately distanced himself from Cunningham’s comments.

“I regret any comments that may be made about these two individuals, who are honorable Americans,” McCain said, referring to Obama and Hillary Clinton, the other remaining Democratic candidate.

“I have never met Mr. Cunningham but I will certainly make sure that nothing like that ever happens again,” the visibly annoyed Arizona senator said.

McCain has not shied away from criticizing Obama and Clinton, especially for their support of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, but he prides himself on limiting his attacks to their political positions.

McCain’s had plenty of practice disavowing comments this week. He spent much of the day Monday disavowing a statement that he would lose the election if he did not convince Americans that they are winning the war in Iraq.

Local Republicans usually determine who appears on stage with McCain, but the campaign may have to play a larger role to avoid such mishaps in the future, a campaign aide said.

Photo credit: Reuters/John Sommers II (McCain at Ohio rally)

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CLEVELAND, OHIO - Not all endorsements are welcome on the presidential campaign.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama sought to distance himself on Monday from praise showered on him by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

“Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan’s past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister’s support,” Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Obama was more explicit, telling WOAI radio in San Antonio: “I have been very clear in denouncing Minister Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic messages.  But I can’t prevent people from saying nice things about me.  Some of them I welcome, some I don’t, but it’s a free country.”

Obama, who has become the front-runner in the race for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, has long fought a whispering campaign from fringe elements that say erroneously he is a Muslim — one more reason support from Farrakhan was unlikely to be welcome.

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Photo credit REUTERS/John Summers II (Obama makes a campaign speech  in Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 25, 2008)