WASHINGTON - Republican White House hopeful John McCain, fresh from his first debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama in Mississippi, expressed regret on Saturday that his performance didn’t win over all the pundits in the press.
 
“I was a little disappointed the media called it a tie but I think that means, when they call it a tie, that means we win,” McCain said during a telephone call that was caught by cameras filming him at his campaign headquarters.
 
Both camps claimed victory after the 90-minute debate on Friday.
 
Meanwhile, Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, sought to lower expectations for the next debate in Tennessee on Oct. 7. It will be conducted in a town-hall style with questions from an audience.
 
“We will be a decided underdog in that encounter, and John McCain is the undisputed town hall champion,” Plouffe told reporters on a conference call, noting that McCain — who is fond of the format — had challenged Obama to do joint town hall meetings throughout the summer.
 
“He clearly feels, even more than the foreign policy debate, this is his home turf. So if we can just escape relatively unscathed against the undisputed town hall champion in Tennessee, we’ll be thrilled.”
 
Obama has held regular town halls of his own throughout the 2008 campaign and does not appear to struggle with the format.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain talks on the phone at his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on Sept. 27)
 

WASHINGTON - John McCain’s campaign insists the Republican presidential candidate’s response to an interviewer’s question about Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was neither a gaffe nor a dodge.
 
McCain knew exactly what he was saying, a campaign spokesman said on Thursday.
 
In the interview this week on Radio Caracol in Miami, McCain was asked about Latin America and South America and then the reporter moved on to Spain and questioned him about meeting with Zapatero.
 
“I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion. And, by the way, President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very very tough fight against the drug cartels. I intend to move forward with relations and invite as many of them as I can, of those leaders, to the White House,” McCain responded.
 
McCain was well aware that the reporter had moved on to another leader in another hemisphere, senior campaign advisor Randy Scheunemann said.
 
“The questioner asked several times about Sen. McCain’s willingness to meet Zapatero, and I-D’d him in the question so there is no doubt Sen. McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred,” Scheunemann said.
 
“Sen. McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview,” Scheunemann said.
 
Within weeks of taking office in 2004, Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops serving in Iraq. The move by Spain’s Socialist government put a chill on relations between Washington and Madrid.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Aaron Josefczyk

BURBANK, Calif. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who turns 72 on Friday, is used to jokes about his age, so when he appeared on NBC’s Tonight Show on Monday he had no trouble countering suggestions he was around for some of the big moments in history.

Host Jay Leno suggested McCain saved Washington, D.C. from British forces in 1814.

“A lot of people think I shouldn’t have,” the Arizona senator joked, playing on widespread disillusionment with all branches of U.S government.

McCain noted, jokingly, that his social security number is ‘eight.’

McCain also suggested Leno could be his running mate. The timing is not quite right — the next president takes office in January and Leno is not due to stand down as Tonight Show host until next May. But Leno didn’t seem interested anyway.

“I can make more doing a week in Vegas. But thanks,” he joked.

McCain — who would be the oldest person to enter the White House for a first term if he won November’s election — plays on his long political experience as a plus factor in the race against Democrat Barack Obama. But some analysts say his age could be offputting to some voters.

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 - Photo credit: Reuters/Scott Audette (McCain with his wife Cindy at an event in Florida on Aug. 18) 

When Republican presidential contender John McCain delivered a speech in front of a green backdrop in June, comedian Stephen Colbert decided the Arizona senator’s campaign could use a bit more excitement.

Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” issued the “Green Screen Challenge” to his viewers, urging them to take stock footage of McCain’s speech and turn  it into something more exciting.

Since then videos portraying McCain have been piling up on the YouTube and ColbertNation Web sites. He’s seen as a pelvis-twisting Elvis, a character in Star Trek and a model in a Madonna video, among other things. He even appears as Colbert himself.

Here are a several, in case you missed them.

ST. LOUIS  - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who prides himself on his national security expertise, has twice in two days referred to recent Russian activities against Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exists.
 
“I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia,” McCain told reporters on Monday in Phoenix.
 
He went on to repeat similar language on Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque.
 
He was clearly referring to the Czech Republic, citing that government’s agreement with the United States over missile defense, an action he said prompted Moscow’s retaliation.

Czechoslovakia split into two parts, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in 1993 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
 
McCain’s campaign headquarters in suburban Washington D.C. got the distinction correct, issuing a written statement under McCain’s name late on Monday saying that “Russia’s 50 percent cut in oil deliveries to the Czech Republic” was deeply disturbing.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Fredy Builes (McCain and wife Cindy arrive in Colombia on a recent visit)
 

ALBUQUERQUE - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday his search for a vice presidential running mate is proving difficult because he has many qualified candidates.

A host of high-profile names have been circulating for weeks who McCain might be considering for vice president, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

At a town hall meeting in Albuquerque, McCain specifically took a question from a youngster described as a reporter, and the youth asked him about his vice presidential search.

McCain said the search “is somewhat difficult because we have so many highly qualified individuals” to consider.

He gave no names. But he said he was operating under a specific timeline that he hopes to meet “well before.”

McCain has said he wants to announce his choice before the Republican nominating convention in St. Paul in early September.

He has given few clues as to who he might pick, but McCain told a fund-raising event in Albuquerque on Monday night that he and Romney, who McCain defeated in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, have become good friends.

It was only a few months ago when the two were at each other’s throat in the often-acrimonious campaign.

“Mitt and Ann Romney and Cindy and I have become good friends,” he said in describing how he feels the Republican Party is united now for the battle against Barack Obama for the Nov. 4 election.

In fact, he said, based on Romney’s television appearances on McCain’s behalf, “He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact.”

He also praised other Republican one-time rivals Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking (McCain, Romney at a meeting March 27)

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