MEXICO CITY - Rain may ruin a parade, but it won’t ruin a press conference - at least not for John McCain.

The Republican U.S. presidential candidate closed up his short swing through Colombia and Mexico on Thursday with a “media avail” in a hangar, against a background of helicopters and fast police cars.

A media avail, for the uninitiated, is short for “availability” - another word for a news conference. And the Arizona senator likes to give them.   

But Thursday’s had an unexpected glitch from Mother Nature: pouring rain pounded down on the hangar, drowning out the journalists’ questions and the senator’s answers.

So he paused to wait it out. But there were schedules to keep, and once it seemed clear the clouds were not closing up soon, McCain motioned for the journalists to move up close to the raised platform where he stood.

So they did - sitting on the floor and tossing questions upward, which McCain answered over the noise. Odd venue or not, he didn’t make a lot of news, commenting on drug trafficking and a recent shake-up in his campaign staff.

Asked for his take on the campfire-like scene, McCain said it was “certain the most unusual” press conference he had ever held.

Photo credit: Reuters/Daniel Aguilar.  Arizona Sen. John McCain and his wife Cindy smile during a press conference in Mexico City. 

MONTREAT, N.C. - Billy Graham is as close to a religious icon in American politics as anyone, so it’s no surprise that a U.S. presidential candidate would seek his blessing.

On Sunday Republican John McCain did just that, essentially, traveling to the ailing evangelist’s mountaintop home to meet and pray with him and son Franklin, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“They’re great leaders in this nation and I appreciate the opportunity to visit with them and I am very grateful for the time they spent with me,” McCain said after their meeting.

The Arizona senator had requested the appointment.

“They’ve known my family, they’ve known of me for many years,” he said, adding the elder Graham recalled meeting and praying with McCain’s parents while their son was held captive in Vietnam.

Franklin Graham issued a statement that highlighted what he had in common with McCain: sons serving in the military and a shared interest in aviation.

But he did not offer an endorsement.

“I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today,” Graham said of McCain.

“I encourage people to vote for the candidate at every level who best represents their values and convictions, and then to pray for those in authority over us as required in Scripture.”

McCain, who attends a Baptist church in Phoenix but is often circumspect about his faith when asked about it on the campaign trail, said he had not sought the pair’s political backing.

“Oh, I didn’t ask for their vote,” he said.  

Photo: Reuters/Chris Keane -   Evangelist Billy Graham (L) walks with his son Franklin Graham before the Billy Graham Library Dedication in Charlotte, North Carolina, May 31, 2007.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Can people trust what Barack Obama says?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Saturday that, at least in some instances, they shouldn’t.

Campaign finance was the issue at hand. McCain, speaking at a Republican fundraiser that netted some $2 million, slammed the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic nominee for going back on a promise to take public funds during the general election if his Republican counterpart did the same.

“This election is about trust and trusting people’s word,” McCain said. “Unfortunately, apparently on several items, Senator Obama’s word cannot be trusted.”

Harsh stuff. Obama, who broke fundraising records during his victorious primary fight against New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, said he made the decision to forego public funds because the Republicans had become masters at gaming the “broken” public finance system.

Sticking to his original promise would have limited Obama to spending $84 million in the two months between the Democratic convention and the Nov. 4 election and barred him from taking additional donations.

McCain does not expect to match Obama’s fundraising success.

A spokesman for Obama said the Republican candidate had a history of his own when it came to changing stances. “Senator McCain’s path to the nomination required repeatedly changing his positions to appeal to the Republican base,” Tommy Vietor said.

“From supporting Bush tax breaks for the rich that he once voted against, to saying he’d now vote against his own immigration reform legislation, the John McCain of 2008 is completely different from the man we knew just a few years ago.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus - Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on June 25.

DALLAS - It’s tough to think of everybody sometimes.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain held a fundraiser in Dallas on Monday and kicked off his remarks by praising many of the leaders that Texas had produced.

There was Kay Bailey Hutchison, a fellow senator who accompanied McCain on his plane from Washington.

John Tower got a shout-out, as did Phil Gramm, who McCain described as his dearest friend and the smartest senator he had ever known.

“This state has a legacy of sending great senators to the United States Senate,” McCain said.

Hmmm. Any other leaders from Texas come to mind?

“The state of Texas has provided great representation in the United States Senate,” he said. “So — and in the White House of the United States of America as well. I forgot to mention that.”

McCain has at times sought to distance himself from George W. Bush, a Texan, but he said on Monday the president deserved credit for the fact that the United States had not seen another terrorist attack on its soil since September 11, 2001.

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 WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain admitted on Saturday it can be difficult at times to be proud of the United States.
 
“I’ll admit to you … that it’s tough in some respects,” McCain said when asked by a questioner at a town hall meeting how to be proud of the country.
 
“We have not always done things right and we mismanaged the war in Iraq very badly for nearly four years.”
 
McCain’s wife, Cindy, pounced on Michelle Obama, the wife of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, for saying in February that she was proud of her country “for the first time in my adult life.”
 
The Arizona senator said it was important for the United States to be more humble and inclusive.
 
“I think we can be proud of America because of what we’ve achieved and accomplished in this world,” he said.
 
“What we have to do is tell our friends around the world that we will be proud of America because of what we’re going to do.”

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 - Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton (McCain speaks during a town hall meeting at Federal Hall in New York on June 12). 

NEW YORK - Republican John McCain, who spent several years in a prison camp in Vietnam and declined offers to be released before his comrades, said on Thursday he did not consider himself a hero. 

Modesty? Say what you will about the Arizona senator, but he appears to sincerely feel that way. 

Which is why the question continues to come up. At fundraisers and town hall meetings, supporters — especially younger people — ask the 71-year-old why he doesn’t spend more time talking about his own personal story.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” McCain said at a televised campaign event on Thursday night, when told by one audience member that many young people were unaware of the senator’s military history. 

“The great honor of my life years ago was in a North Vietnamese prison camp to serve in the company of heroes. I observed a thousand acts of courage and compassion and love,” McCain said.

Supporters would like to hear more about that. But the candidate is reluctant. 

“I’ve been an imperfect servant of this country,” he said, saying he did not put himself in the same category as those who served with him in the war.

Many beg to differ. Even Barack Obama, the Democratic White House candidate, regularly refers to McCain as an American hero — before ripping into his policy proposals and tying him to unpopular Republican President George W. Bush.

McCain acknowledged that his story inspires, and promised to tell it to younger voters, whose support he is competing for. 

“It took me a long time til I was in a prison camp in North Vietnam, and I figured out that there’s nothing nobler than to serve a cause greater than your self-interest, and sometimes when I talk to young people they say those stories inspire them,” he said. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (McCain puts his hand to his head as he speaks to the National Federation of Independent Business).

PHILADELPHIA - Republican John McCain has a new response to those who say he would effectively serve another term of President George W. Bush’s administration: Barack Obama, the Arizona senator says, would do the same for Jimmy Carter.
 
Obama, the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, often ties his rival to the unpopular Bush on issues such as the Iraq war and the sputtering economy.
 
McCain’s response: two can play at that game.
 
“From what I’ve seen, as I’ve said, of Senator Obama’s proposals, that would be very akin to a second term for Jimmy Carter,” McCain told an enthusiastic crowd in Pennsylvania, criticizing the Illinois senator’s positions on taxes and other issues.
 
Former President Carter lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan, who would become a conservative icon.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Muhammad Hamed (Jimmy Carter speaks with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Salaheddin in Amman April 20, 2008)

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain spent a marathon day raising money on Monday, and it went well: after events in Virginia and Washington, D.C., the campaign and the Republican Party pulled in more than $2 million.
 
“We won’t raise as much money as our opponent but we certainly will raise (a) sufficient amount of money to win this election,” the Arizona senator told a gathering at a Ritz Carlton hotel in Northern Virginia.
 
His opponent, of course, is Democrat Barack Obama, who has consistently broken records with his fundraising in the primary contests.
 
McCain congratulated Obama on his victory over rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nominating battle but needled the Illinois senator for a lack of experience by saying the White House was not a place for on-the-job training.
 
McCain was certainly on the job bringing in cash. One event included tickets to a “victory dinner” and two receptions for a contribution — raised or donated — of $50,000. Whew.
 
And even those lobbyists out there got a thank-you.
 
“I’m going to thank some corrupt unscrupulous lobbyists that are destroying America as we speak, everything we stand for and believe in,” McCain joked at one fundraiser. 
 
Right.
 
Finally, there was praise for his opponent-turned-supporter, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
 
“There’s nobody who represents me better today than Mitt Romney,” McCain said.
 
Are you listening, governor? That could be the sound of a vice presidential offer coming down the road …

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Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria. McCain talks at a news conference after visiting the Everglades Safari Park in Miami, Florida, June 6, 2008.

MIAMI - So, who wants to be John McCain’s vice president? Try-outs for the number two spot on the presumptive Republican nominee’s presidential ticket continued this week as the Arizona senator made stops in two states with governors who appear to be on his short list.

In Louisiana, it was Bobby Jindal, the state’s popular 36-year-old governor who is considered a rising star in the party. Jindal, who stood next to the Arizona senator at a press conference and revved up the crowds before events, said the right things and appeared to crave the microphone as much as the man who could make his career.

“Anybody can make promises on reform. It takes a person with conviction to actually achieve reform,” Jindal told an audience in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, contrasting the Arizona senator with Barack Obama, his Democratic rival who has made “change” his rallying cry.

Good start, governor.

In Florida it was Charlie Crist, another popular governor who reigns in a “swing state” that could be critical in November’s general election.

“I’m privileged and honored to be here with Sen. McCain,” Crist said on Friday after joining McCain and his entourage on a boat tour of the marshy Everglades.

Some have called into question McCain’s support of the subtropical wilderness area after he opposed a bill that would have given it additional funds. McCain says he opposed the measure because of other “pork barrel” spending projects that were tagged on.

Crist, like a good right-hand man, said this to reporters:

“The fact that the senator took the time and the trouble to be here and to see it personally … means an awful lot about where his heart is.”

Hmm … but where is his heart when it comes to choosing his number two? McCain, who usually likes chatting with the press, is not saying.

Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Sen. John McCain waves next to his wife Cindy, his daughter Meghan and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist  during a tour of the Everglades Safari Park in Miami.)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - It’s June. The U.S. presidential  election is in November. So does it pay to be the front-runner now — or the underdog?

Republican John McCain has gone with underdog, declaring himself just that in an interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson on Thursday, two days after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“Are you the underdog?” Gibson asked, according to a transcript of the interview.
“Oh, yes, I think so. I think so,” McCain replied.

“I think — I’m surprised, frankly, to see the polls as close as they are, given our brand problems in the Republican Party. I’m pleased where we are.”

Sometimes you don’t want to be the favorite.

Hillary Clinton, who is set to end her campaign for the Democratic nomination this week, was the clear front-runner last year before she lost to Obama in January in Iowa, the first state to hold a nominating contest.

McCain does have some obstacles. He has to compete with the historic nature of his opponent’s bid — Obama would be the first black U.S. president — and the unpopular Republican president, George W. Bush, whom both hope to succeed.

McCain played down the role of race at an event in Florida and is already working to gather some of the attention that has been showered on his Democratic rivals — and to find a style that suits him.

After his speech on Tuesday night was panned for poor delivery, the Arizona senator ditched his teleprompter on Thursday and spoke from the cuff, looking more natural and more comfortable.

He’ll have several more months to perfect his style if he wants to give up the underdog mantle.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young. McCain points to the audience as he arrives to speak before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington on June, 2008.