Priest apologizes over remarks

CHICAGO - The Catholic priest whose comments mocking Hillary Clinton reignited the controversy over Barack Obama's former church stood before his own parishioners yesterday and apologized.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger said he isn't racist or sexist and called the past few days "the most painful" of his life.

"I apologize for anyone who was offended and who thought it to be mockery," he said at his church, St. Sabina. "That was neither my intent nor was it my heart."

Pfleger said he has received more than 3,000 angry and threatening e-mails since he was a guest preacher last Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's former church.

During that sermon, Pfleger, a Catholic priest, pretended he was Clinton crying over "a black man stealing my show."

Pfleger's statements, combined with a series of inflammatory remarks by Trinity's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., prompted Obama and his wife, Michelle, to resign their 20-year membership in the church on Chicago's South Side. Obama announced that decision Saturday.

Pfleger, 59, is known for his impassioned delivery in speeches and outspoken activism that includes protests and acts of civil disobedience.

Since last week's fiery sermon, Pfleger promised not to campaign or even mention any candidate by name. He held to that promise Sunday.

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MILWAUKEE - Freewheeling and scrappy during the primaries, John McCain is evolving into a more message-driven and deliberate candidate as he prepares for the contest with his expected Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

He gives more speeches, lingers less among the people at events, and spends more time raising money in private.

"My best venue and my most enjoyable venue, frankly, is a town-hall meeting because I learn and I listen and I get in touch with people," the Arizona senator said during a question-and-answer session in Greendale, Wis.

But gone are the days when McCain would spend a day holding several of his hallmark ask-anything events and making surprise visits to local establishments. Time constraints, logistics, and priorities are taking over.

His daily interaction with the reporters who travel with him has also tapered off; more formal news conferences every few days are becoming the norm, partly out of a desire to project a precise message - and picture.

McCain acknowledges the changes, but told the Associated Press he would continue to press his advisers to make sure he has time in his schedule for the media and give-and-take with voters in town-hall settings. "We'll have more of those. I love those. They're the most important thing," he said.

After wrapping up the GOP nomination in March, McCain openly worried about "losing the flavor of the campaign" and abandoning the impromptu style that put him on the national political map in 2000 and that helped bring him a primary victory eight years later.

ASSOCIATED PRESS