McCain praises Romney on trail

John McCain promised auto workers at General Motors yesterday to help make the company's long-range electric car a success. (Fabrizio costantini/bloomberg news)

Feeding the growing buzz that Mitt Romney will be his running mate, John McCain yesterday threw more verbal bouquets his former rival's way.

He spoke at a fund-raiser attended by several major Romney donors in Michigan, a battleground state where Romney's father was governor, where Romney won the primary, and where Romney's presence on the ticket could help McCain.

"Mitt has been doing such a great job lately on my behalf, I said only half in jest, he's doing a better job for me than he did for himself," McCain said, according to a press pool report. "And in case you missed it, as short a time ago as this morning, Mitt has been on the shows, not only defending, but standing up for the things that we believe in, are important to the future of the country."

McCain then praised Romney's wife, Ann, who is battling multiple sclerosis, as "a woman of courage and beauty and grace."

Romney and McCain fought like cats and dogs during the primaries, but since McCain clinched the GOP nomination in March, Romney has been one of the Arizona senator's most enthusiastic cheerleaders and aggressive attackers of Democrat Barack Obama. This week, Romney's camp confirmed that he will not seek to raise money to repay the $45 million he loaned his own campaign, freeing those donors to give to McCain.

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McCain surrogate creates Muslim flap with comment
Another surrogate controversy surfaced yesterday.

This time, it's Bud Day, a retired Air Force colonel who was a POW with Republican John McCain in Vietnam and now supports his presidential bid.

In a conference call with reporters yesterday organized by the Florida Republican Party, Day defended the Iraq war by saying, "the Muslims have said either we kneel, or they're going to kill us.

"I don't intend to kneel, and I don't advocate to anybody that we kneel, and John doesn't advocate that we kneel," Day added, according to audio posted by the Miami Herald.

An official with the Council on American-Islamic Relations told CNN that McCain should repudiate the remarks. The McCain campaign issued a short statement to CNN saying, "The threat we face is from radical Islamic extremism."

Day was also in Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which in the 2004 presidential race condemned Senator John F. Kerry's antiwar activities and tried to discredit his war record.

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Independents not excited, remain very undecided
The oft-noted enthusiasm gap that favors Democrat Barack Obama becomes starkly apparent in a new poll out yesterday.

But the more telling finding in the survey by the Associated Press and Yahoo News is that many independents - who typically decide presidential elections - are not very excited about the election and are very undecided.

Only 21 percent of independent voters - being targeted by both Obama and Republican John McCain - said they find the election interesting, down from 31 percent in November, and just 7 percent say it's exciting. About a quarter support each candidate, about 40 percent remain undecided, and half say they could still change their minds.

Among each candidate's core supporters, Obama's - African-Americans, Democrats, and liberals - are more enthusiastic and have become more excited about the race since fall than whites, Republicans, and conservatives, who tend to support McCain.

The poll found that supporters of Hillary Clinton are still cool toward Obama. Just 12 percent of former Clinton loyalists say they are excited about the campaign.

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McCain suggests Obama's voting record is extreme
The latest skirmish in the presidential race is, of all things, whether John McCain called Barack Obama a socialist.

The blow-up started when McCain, asked Thursday in Kansas City whether he believed Obama was an extremist. replied that "his voting record . . . is more to the left" than Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-described socialist. Asked whether he believes that Obama is a socialist, McCain answered, "I don't know. All I know is his voting record, and that's what people usually judge their elected representatives by."

McCain is citing a National Journal vote rating that found that Obama was the most liberal US senator last year.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responded that the attack "is exactly what the American people are tired of."

Yesterday, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "It's up to Barack Obama to explain his extreme record."

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