McCain makes pitch for tax cuts, job training

Republican John McCain spoke to reporters yesterday during a campaign stop at the Chick-Fil-A headquarters in Atlanta. (gerald herbert/Associated Press)

ATLANTA - Republican John McCain, who has acknowledged that economics isn't his strong suit, said yesterday that tax cuts and job training are needed to lift an economy that is either in recession or is headed toward one.

Responding to a report yesterday from the Labor Department that employers cut jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years, McCain said: "Many American families are hurting very badly, particularly those in states like Ohio, Michigan, parts of Illinois, those states that really relied on manufacturing jobs and saw those jobs leave. And we as a nation have not done enough to help those workers find new employment, new training, new education."

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, believing the economy issue favors them in the fall, jumped on the jobs numbers.

Obama, in a statement hitting both McCain and Clinton, said Americans "can't afford John McCain's promise of four more years of the very same failed Bush economic policies that have failed us for the last eight, and they can't afford another politician who promises solutions but won't change the divisive, lobbyist-driven politics in Washington."

Clinton highlighted her policy prescriptions to extend unemployment insurance, help homeowners in the mortgage crisis, and invest in "green-collar" jobs. She also noted that gas prices are rising with record oil prices this week.

ASSOCIATED PRESS AND GLOBE STAFF

Paul pulls out of GOP race, urges support for message
John McCain, who numerically clinched the Republican nomination this week, now appears to have the field entirely to himself.

Mike Huckabee withdrew Tuesday night, and now Ron Paul, the last remaining competitor, is telling supporters that he can't win "in the conventional political sense."

Still, he urged supporters to help him rack up as many delegates as possible in the remaining primaries and caucuses to help further his message of liberty. "We must remember elections are short-term efforts, revolutions are long-term projects," he said in a lengthy video posted late Thursday on his website.

Paul, who held on to his Texas congressional seat Tuesday, became an Internet money machine, with his supporters raising far more money for him than several better-known candidates. Through January, he had brought in nearly $33 million, nearly three times more than Huckabee. Paul also won quite a bit of attention during debates as the only GOP candidate opposed to the Iraq war.

But Paul's campaign failed to translate that success and notoriety into votes.

FOON RHEE

Puerto Rico adds twist: a different voting date
Just when you thought the Democratic presidential race couldn't get more bizarre, now comes this.

For months, the campaigns and the Democratic National Committee - not to mention the media - have penciled June 7 on their calendars for the Puerto Rico caucuses as the last contest of the nomination campaign.

But Roberto Prats, party chairman in the US territory, told the Associated Press yesterday that the contest has actually been long scheduled for June 1, and attributed erroneous reports that list June 7 as the date to a typing mistake in a document sent to the national party.

Huh?

Prats also disclosed that the state party's central committee decided Thursday night to ask the national Democratic Party to hold a primary instead of a caucus to encourage more voters to participate - and just perhaps get Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to campaign on the island.

"If Puerto Rico is going to play such a significant role, we should give the world a showcase of democracy," Prats told the AP. "We know how to vote, we vote in masses, and I think it's Puerto Rico's showtime."

Puerto Rico's primary, with a significant 55 delegates at stake, could end up being far from the end. Montana and South Dakota hold their primaries June 3, and it's looking increasingly possible that Florida and Michigan could hold do-overs the following week.

FOON RHEE

McCain repudiates views that bash Catholic Church
NEW ORLEANS - John McCain yesterday repudiated any views of a prominent televangelist who endorsed him last month "if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics."

McCain has come under fire since televangelist John Hagee endorsed him Feb. 27, but until yesterday the Arizona senator had merely said he doesn't agree with everyone who endorses him. He said yesterday that he had been hearing from Catholics who find Hagee's comments offensive.

Hagee, leader of a San Antonio megachurch, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system."

McCain said yesterday: "I sent two of my children to Catholic school. I categorically reject and repudiate any statement that was made that was anti-Catholic, both in intent and nature."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Talk of teaming with Kerry in 2004 irks GOP candidate
NEW ORLEANS - John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter yesterday when asked whether he had spoken to Democrat John F. Kerry about being his vice president in 2004.

"Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain replied. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know."

Asked again about the conversation, McCain said: "No. No. Because the issue is closed, as far as I'm concerned. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it in America."

ASSOCIATED PRESS