McCain's dance with Hillary Clinton

John McCain is laughing about a potential matchup with Hillary Clinton all the way to the bank.

The Arizona Republican chortled Monday when a woman at a South Carolina campaign event asked him, "How do we beat the [rhymes with witch]?"

"May I give the translation?" he told the crowd, according to the Associated Press. "That's an excellent question. I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democratic Party."

After a CNN anchor questioned whether McCain should have reacted more strongly to the woman, his campaign rebuffed the criticism and quickly sent out a fund-raising appeal in response.

"We are asking you to help us fight Rick Sanchez and CNN and stand with John McCain. Please make your most generous contribution from $25 up to the maximum limit of $2,300 to the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton."

And now on McCain's campaign website is a tongue-in-cheek game called "The John & Hillary Show" that puts caricatures of them on a debate stage and has players answer questions whose answers are flattering to McCain.

McCain said today he responded appropriately to the woman.

"She made a comment, I made light of the comment, and then I said very seriously I treated and continue to treat Senator Clinton with respect and I've said that many times," the Arizona senator told reporters at his Phoenix office. He chuckled when a reporter brought it up, according to the Associated Press.

When asked whether he thought the woman's comment was funny, McCain said he reacted that way because he wanted to move on.