McCain: 'I am prepared to lead'

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) touted his experience and Western roots in his bid for the White House during a brief campaign stop Saturday in this rural, Republican-friendly Nevada enclave.

"I am prepared to lead, I need no on-the-job training," the Arizona Republican told about 300 people gathered at the steps of the Elko County Courthouse, in northeastern Nevada.

McCain criticized both parties on the war in Iraq. The war was mismanaged in its early stages, he said, but Democrats' attempts to enforce a timetable for withdrawal are misguided and won't prevail.

President Bush has said he will veto a war funding bill that contains the timetable. Democrats in Congress have stood by the plan.

McCain said he believes Democrats will back down rather face blame for any possible consequences of holding up funding by insisting on a withdrawal timetable.

"The fact is they won't do it because then they have to take responsibility for what takes place," he said.

McCain, a former Navy pilot, touted his experience and fiscal conservatism, pledging to rein in pork-barrel spending and cut government waste.

"I know war. I know peace. I served in the military, I know how the military works. I know how the world works," he said.

McCain's visit was part of a five-state, four-day swing to officially kickoff his presidential campaign.

He wrapped wrap up the tour later in the day in Tempe, Ariz., where he told supporters: "It's not lightly, my friends, that I embark on this effort to be president of the United States. John McCain may not be a president for all times, but I believe that I'm the president for these times."

McCain has been trailing in polls and fundraising to Republican Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. The senator has struggled to maintain his reputation for political independence while staunchly defending the administration's increasing unpopular war policies.

In a speech in Las Vegas last week, McCain criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) when the Nevada Democrat said the war in Iraq was "lost."

Though rural areas of Nevada are heavily supportive of Bush, McCain could have an uphill battle in other parts of the state, particularly in populous Clark County in southern Nevada that includes Las Vegas.

McCain has a record of supporting the opening of a nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The waste dump is strongly opposed by Democrats and Republicans in the state.

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FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Investing in science and research is one of the ways the U.S. can remain competitive and slow the loss of manufacturing jobs, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told Michigan audiences Saturday.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is from Michigan — an auto-industry reliant state with one of the nation's highest unemployment rates.

"There is something we can do as a country to show we care very deeply about manufacturing and maintaining America's manufacturing base," Romney told reporters after addressing an audience in Flint, a city hard hit by the problems of General Motors Corp. and the domestic auto industry. "One of the things we can do is a better job investing in basic science and research."

Romney said the U.S. also must make its corporate tax rates more competitive, improve the quality of schools and reduce its dependence on foreign oil. He said the U.S. should insist that nations such as China have fair trade and currency rules.

He also discussed defeating the Islamic jihad movement and the war in Iraq during wide-ranging talks at Republican Lincoln Day gatherings.

Romney was finishing a two-day trip through Michigan, which may be one of the key states in determining the 2008 presidential election.

At a Lansing-area gathering Saturday, Romney told reporters Michigan would be the center of his campaign if he won the Republican nomination.

"This is a blue state that could be a red state if I am the nominee," Romney said.

Romney's father, George, was a popular Michigan governor in the 1960s.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A series of debates in the next month and a straw poll this summer in Iowa will highlight the differences in a large Republican field of candidates and likely doom the current set of front-runners, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday.

"Republicans don't ultimately choose their candidate based on poll numbers and predictions," Huckabee said. "They base it on the principles those candidates espouse and their ability to articulate them."

Huckabee spoke during a campaign visit in Iowa, where precinct caucuses traditionally launch the presidential nominating season. He was courting conservative activists at an anti-abortion meeting, and speaking to a conference on the emergence of diabetes at a Des Moines hospital.

Diabetes has been one of Huckabee's prime topics since doctors diagnosed the disease in him nearly five years ago. He has lost more than 100 pounds in an effort to combat it.

Most surveys have shown Huckabee far behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who are generally atop the field of Republican candidates.

Huckabee argued on Saturday that most polls are not based on backing from Republicans activists who will play a main role in narrowing the GOP field.

"What you are not seeing now is a sense of excitement," said Huckabee. "Frankly what you are seeing now is people saying we're not satisfied and we're continuing to look."

He said the top tier of the Republican field is based on name identification and early fundraising, both of which can be overcome.

"The three front-runners are front-runners not because the party activists have deemed them front-runners, but because, in essence, the pundits and columnists and others have deemed them that because of how they show up on name identification and how much money they have raised," he said. "You don't see them front-running in the sense of activist support."

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Associated Press Writers Tim Martin in Michigan and Mike Glover in Iowa contributed to this report.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070429/ap_on_el_pr/republicans2008 [link]