Growth removed from McCain's face

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Senator John McCain said yesterday he had a mole-like growth removed from his face and biopsied as part of a regular checkup with his dermatologist.

"She said that I was doing fine," McCain, a four-time melanoma survivor, told reporters during a campaign visit to an oil rig where he spoke about his energy plan.

"She took a small little nick from my cheek, as she does regularly, and that will be biopsied just to make sure everything is fine," he said.

The Arizona senator, 71, had the skin removed during a regular checkup at The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., which issued a statement calling it "a routine minor procedure."

In May, his campaign released voluminous medical records and testimonials by his doctors attesting that McCain is cancer free and in good health.

His dermatologist said he has not had a recurrence of the skin cancer since his last melanoma was removed in 2002.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Senator John F. Kerry gave a major speech last night at Yale University on interfaith dialogue in which he suggested that the future of humanity depends on a greater understanding between religions.

"We've barely broken the seal on the 21st century, but already it's been marked not just by burning buildings and occupying armies and riots and roiling images of bloodshed and humiliation, but also by an even more widespread and dangerous worry - by a question you hear whispered and spoken quietly: What if we can't live together?," Kerry said, according to remarks prepared for delivery at a Christian-Muslim conference organized by Yale Divinity School.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who narrowly lost the presidential race in 2004, says that many Americans, including politicians, know too little about Islam. And he connects that lack of knowledge to America's decision to go to war against Iraq.

"We have major politicians who couldn't tell you the difference between Shi'a and Sunni - so it's no wonder that we attack a secular dictator in response to radical fundamentalist terrorists," he said.

MICHAEL PAULSON

John McCain's campaign is not letting up in blasting Barack Obama for not visiting wounded soldiers while in Germany.

Yesterday, it issued a statement from Michael Durant, a former Army helicopter pilot who was shot down in Somalia in 1993 and recuperated at the medical center Obama was scheduled to visit Friday until his campaign nixed it, saying it did not want to bring politics to the bedside.

"Over the last week, Barack Obama made time in his busy schedule to hold a rally with 200,000 Germans in Berlin, hold a press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris, and hold a solo press conference in front of 10 Downing Street in London," Durant said. "I've spent time at Ramstein recovering from wounds received in the service of my country, and I'm sure that Senator Obama could have made no better use of his time than to meet with our men and women in uniform there."

McCain also has a new TV ad out on the issue, saying that Obama "made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops." "John McCain is always there for our troops," the narrator concludes.

Robert Gibbs, an Obama spokesman, said on MSNBC yesterday that McCain is "an honorable man running an increasingly dishonorable campaign."

FOON RHEE

For Obamamaniacs, it would be like winning the lottery.

Barack Obama announced yesterday, via a video message, that 10 supporters and one guest each will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Denver next month - including backstage access at Invesco Field when he accepts the Democratic presidential nomination on Aug. 28. The only catch: You have to give some money to his campaign by July 31. In the message, Obama promises "an experience you'll never forget" at what he calls "the biggest public event of this election so far."

FOON RHEE