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McCain rallies campaign workers in Saint Paul
Senator John McCain told campaign workers in Saint Paul Thursday night that the entire election may be in their hands. "Minnesota will be a battleground state," the Arizona Senator and presumptive Republican nominee told volunteers, "Minnesota may determine who the next president of the United States is. We're going to win this state because of your efforts." More than 100 McCain faithful crowded into a warehouse space down the hall from his Minnesota campaign headquarters. Due to the tight security that accompanies presidential candidates, they had to remain in place in the hot room for two hours awaiting his arrival. They burst into applause when their candidate and his wife Cindy arrived, accompanied by Governor Tim Pawlenty and First Lady Mary Pawlenty. "I'll never be able to thank you enough," Senator McCain told them upon his arrival, "Every single person in this room has something else to do besides be here on behalf of our Republican party and my candidacy." McCain trails Democrat Barack Obama in the polls in Minnesota, a state that hasn't gone Republican in a presidential race since 1972 when Richard Nixon carried it along with 48 other states. The fight for Minnesota and surrounding upper Midwestern states will be in especially sharp focus with Pawlenty's name in the hopper as a possible running mate, and the Republican National Convention being staged at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. McCain Interview After the pep talk for the volunteers, McCain sat down for a series of five-minute one-on-one interviews with the local media, including KARE 11. On the issue of the gas crunch, we noted that American's have asked that government get out of the way and allow markets to function freely. But now those markets have wrought $4 gas and a national fleet of gas guzzling vehicles. Is it reasonable to expect that government can now provide immediate relief? "I think for 30 years the government didn't act in the face of our dependence on foreign oil," McCain replied, "And our government should've anticipated that India and China are making greater demands on a finite product." McCain said as a nation we'd essentially dropped the ball on oil and gas exploration, expansion of nuclear power and development of alternate energy sources. "A lot of this problem is a government failure, and our failure to act in the national interests," McCain remarked, "And too much fighting between Republicans and Democrats." "I think that the marketplace reacted frankly, in ways that are understandable," he said, "But as a government we should have not ever allowed over the years our dependency on foreign oil, which now is a national security issue." KARE viewer's question Earlier in the week KARE 11 asked viewers to submit possible questions for McCain on our web site. The one we picked came from a web reader, Heather1128, who said her son had been injured fighting in Iraq and had required nine surgeries already. She said his initial care was excellent, but as he got further down the road he'd had a harder time getting treatment. He'd encountered delays being evaluated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "Mr. McCain," she wrote, "If you became President what would be your specific plan to ensure that our injured military members would be properly cared for on a ongoing basis?" "My specific plan is for people like her son to have expanded VA health care for PTSB and combat-related injuries," McCain told KARE 11. He said he'd like to see veterans received medical cards they can use anywhere for routine medical services, which would allow the VA and other military hospitals to specialize on the more acutely ill. The senator looked into the camera, as if to address Heather1128 directly. "That way they can concentrate on your son's particular needs, which we have an obligation to fulfill." Women's issues The McCains spent Thursday night in the Twin Cities, and are scheduled to hold what's billed as a "town hall meeting for women" across the border in Hudson, Wisconsin. Barack Obama, in the meantime, spent part of his day Thursday with former primary rival Hillary Clinton, at a "Women for Obama" rally in New York. "It is critical that we join forces," Senator Clinton said, "Because the Democratic Party is a family. Sometimes it's a dysfunctional family, but it's a family." Obama added, "We know that because of what Hillary Clinton has accomplished, that my daughters and yours look at American and look at themselves differently today." The plan calls for better paid sick leave benefits, larger tax breaks for child care and an array of initiaves expected to help familes and working women in particular. In Saint Paul Thursday female DFL leaders, including Atate Auditor Rebecca Otto and the top two women in the legislature, touted the Obama plan. "Minnesota has the highest percent of working moms in the nation," Assistant Senate Minority Leader Tarryl Clark told reporters, "You know we haven't seen the kind of relief that helps us and our families, our spouses our partners." House Speaker Margaret Kelliher said, "The appeal is for most women who are working women in this country, single, married, mothers, or not." "The impact for them is going to be more powerful with President Barack Obama, and an Obama administration with a Democratic Congress."
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