McCain vies for spotlight as rival tours war zone

McCain vies for spotlight as rival tours war zone

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — Republican John McCain worked Monday to wrestle the spotlight from rival Barack Obama’s tour of Iraq by insisting he was right and the Democrat was wrong about the war and releasing a new critical ad blaming higher gas prices on his opponent.

As Obama toured the war zones trailed by U.S. network TV anchors, McCain ridiculed him from afar during a visit with the first President George Bush at his summer home on the Atlantic.

The Republican and Democratic presidential contenders have differed sharply over Iraq. Obama has said he would withdraw U.S. troops from combat there over 16 months while reinforcing the U.S. effort against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. McCain has resisted any timetable for withdrawal, insisting that victory in Iraq is a necessary precursor to success in Afghanistan.

Any withdrawal of troops from Iraq “must be based on conditions on the ground,” McCain told reporters as he stood beside the 84-year-old former president.

The Arizona senator disparaged Obama as “someone who has no military experience whatsoever.”

At the same time, McCain released a new television ad that blames Obama for rising gasoline prices.

Obama holds lead Democrat Barack Obama holds a 6-point lead nationally over Republican John McCain — 47 percent to 41 percent — among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update. Republicans hoping for a grand old party in Minn.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republicans are counting on a glitch-free convention to help lift the party’s sagging morale and boost John McCain’s presidential prospects when they assemble in this picturesque city on the Mississippi River in six weeks.

Organizers began construction Monday at the Xcel Energy Center, home to the Minnesota Wild NHL hockey franchise, to host 4,600 delegates and alternates and thousands more guests and media Sept. 1-4. Construction workers began unscrewing seats and unloading equipment from trucks, making room for the stage where McCain will deliver his acceptance speech. The Republican Party will have exclusive access to the arena through the convention.

The GOP sessions get under way four days after Democrats conclude their own convention in Denver. Never before have the two parties’ events been scheduled so late in the summer, and so close together.

McCain strategists believe the timing could work to their advantage, potentially blunting the post-Denver “bounce” Obama should receive as a newly minted nominee. And even though Obama leads McCain by double digits in most Minnesota polls, his strategists hope a successful convention could help the Arizona senator’s chances of winning the state.

Crews will be laying down six miles of telephone and Internet cable and installing 4,500 data and analog lines.

Close-to-the-action broadcast sets for television networks and tables for print journalists will replace 3,000 existing seats, and another 475,000 square feet of media workspace occupy an adjacent building. Several suites will be turned into hospitality rooms for donors, convention sponsors and prominent Republicans.

McCain adviser lobbies on behalf of Payne

WASHINGTON — A top foreign policy adviser to John McCain has lobbied the National Security Council, Congress and the State Department on behalf of Stephen Payne, the Texas businessman and longtime Republican fundraiser caught up in a controversy over whether he sought to sell access to the Bush White House.

According to records on file with Congress, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann lobbied the Senate and House on behalf of Payne’s firm, Worldwide Strategic Partners Inc., in 2002.

Scheunemann also lobbied the National Security Council and the State Department regarding energy issues in the Caspian region in 2005 and 2006 on behalf of another Payne firm, Caspian Alliance Inc., according to the records.

The McCain campaign said Scheunemann did not lobby on any specific legislation on behalf of either company, said McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. The fees to Scheunemann’s firm amounted to $50,000.

On Monday, McCain’s campaign said that from 2002 to 2006, Scheunemann periodically engaged in consulting relationships with the two companies and that Scheunemann was never on the payroll of either firm, but that he was an occasional outside expert consultant.

In regard to Caspian Alliance, Scheunemann arranged several informational meetings for Payne with Department of State and NSC officials following Caspian energy issues, said Rogers.

Associated Press