{"id":3456,"date":"2008-07-14T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-15T02:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/mccain-talks-about-wilderness-economy-immigration\/"},"modified":"2008-07-14T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-15T02:45:00","slug":"mccain-talks-about-wilderness-economy-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/mccain-talks-about-wilderness-economy-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain talks about wilderness, economy, immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Though he wasn\u2019t speaking specifically about the wilderness battle that is raging in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, Republican presidential candidate John McCain<\/a> said in an interview today that it can take years of bipartisan work to get any wilderness proposal through Congress. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain said he \u201cphilosophically, strongly\u201d supports \u201cpermanent preservation of pristine areas.\u201d In Arizona<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> he worked with former U.S. Rep. Morris \u201cMo\u201d Udall<\/a>, a liberal Democrat, to preserve millions of acres of land.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to get consensus. You can\u2019t do it without getting everybody on board. And we had to make compromise,\u201d McCain said, adding that it took years to get environmental organizations, the business community and ranching groups to compromise.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> is currently divided over what to do with about 300,000 acres of land including the Organ<\/st1:placename> Mountains<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. One proposal would give the land a permanent wilderness designation; a competing proposal would give it new, untested designations some say would be less restrictive, and would also mandate the sale of about 65,000 acres of federal land.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain granted an approximately 25-minute interview today to five New Mexico<\/st1:state> reporters — including me — who rode with him on the Straight Talk Express, his campaign bus, from the Albuquerque<\/st1:placename> International<\/st1:placename> Airport<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> to a campaign fundraiser at the Hilton Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The reporters and McCain huddled in a circle in the back of the bus, with only one campaign staffer present. A television was set to the FOX News channel, and McCain checked the TV several times during the interview as he discussed the day\u2019s news and issues in the campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Udall was an uncle of U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a>, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. During the interview, McCain had kind words for the Udall family. He said he developed a close relationship with Mo Udall because of their bipartisan work representing New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s neighboring state in Congress. Their relationship was recently documented in a Newsweek article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI love and revere the Udall family. Mo was very good to me, and Mark<\/a> (Tom\u2019s cousin) and Tom are good friends,\u201d McCain said. He added that he has a \u201cgreat appreciation\u201d for former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall<\/a>, Tom Udall\u2019s father and Mo Udall\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean McCain supports Tom Udall in his race against Republican Steve Pearce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI want him elected,\u201d McCain said of Pearce. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of philosophy. We\u2019re both conservative Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce isn\u2019t on the side of those who want a permanent wilderness designation for the land in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. He has backed the other proposal by introducing it as a bill in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The economy, the labs<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain is in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to talk about the economy, not wilderness. He said he has a message for rural New Mexicans: \u201cIf you want someone who\u2019s going to raise your taxes, I\u2019m not your candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain said his plan for rural New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> includes \u201cjobs, jobs, jobs,\u201d a gas-tax holiday, more offshore drilling and keeping taxes low.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He also talked about the importance of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the nation\u2019s other labs. He said he wants to expand the mission of the labs to include increased alternative-energy research but doesn\u2019t want that to come at the expense of weapons research.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That puts him in opposition to Tom Udall\u2019s previous vote to cut LANL funding — and jobs — as a way to force the lab to shift its focus. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> has been on the other side of that fight, taking essentially the same position as McCain.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re facing a national security crisis,\u201d McCain said about his opposition to cuts in the weapons program.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hispanics<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Polls have shown that McCain\u2019s Democratic opponent, Barack Obama<\/a>, has the edge among Hispanics. But McCain has been working to earn their support with radio and television ads in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and other battleground states.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain said in the interview that Hispanics should choose him because he has a strong record on and knowledge of border issues and is pro-life, pro-business and pro-military. He said he has taken risks in an attempt to seek comprehensive immigration reform, while Obama\u2019s votes were designed to kill reform.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain was an architect last year of a bipartisan proposal that would have overhauled the immigration system. Heavy pressure from the right led to the bill\u2019s failure. McCain said members of Congress on the left and right introduced \u201ckiller amendments\u201d that wouldn\u2019t have the support to lead to the bill\u2019s passage. Obama supported some of those amendments, while McCain said he tried to seek compromise.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain said he now supports beginning with a plan to secure the borders and later seeking additional reforms. He said he would seek comprehensive reform again if he believed it could pass, but it currently won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll be back\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCain also had kind words during the interview for U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, who lost to Pearce in the Senate primary. Some have suggested she would make a strong running mate<\/a> for McCain.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI like her very much. I admire her very much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And he had a promise for New Mexicans:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBattleground state. I\u2019ll be back. A lot,\u201d McCain said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though he wasn\u2019t speaking specifically about the wilderness battle that is raging in Do\u00f1a Ana County, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in an interview today that it can take years of bipartisan work to get any wilderness proposal through Congress. McCain said he \u201cphilosophically, strongly\u201d supports \u201cpermanent preservation of pristine areas.\u201d In Arizona he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}