McCain: Spending out of control

Republican John McCain, launching his campaign today in Ohio, a state where the economy dominates politics, said he will deliver a simple message to Ohio voters – less government spending and lower taxes lead to economic growth.

"We have let spending get completely of control with earmarks and pork barrel spending,’’ the Arizona senator told the Enquirer in a phone interview today. "That will end when I am president."

Earlier today, two of Ohio’s top Democrats – state party chairman Chris Redfern and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown – held a conference call with Ohio reporters in which they said that McCain is "out of touch" with Ohio workers and that his economic policies would amount to a "third term."

McCain, in the phone interview, dismissed the criticism.

"Will I ever have an affinity with or approval from the Democratic party chairman or Sen. Brown?’’ McCain said. "I doubt it."

McCain – who appears to be on the verge of locking up the GOP presidential nomination – said that both possible Democratic opponents in the fall campaign, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, like earmarks, those spending items added to spending bills by Congress.

"I’m the only candidate who has fought against excessive spending,’’ McCain said. And, he said, if elected president, he would veto any budget bill that lands on his desk "loaded up with earmarks and pork."

President Bush made a similar veto pledge in his State of the Union address earlier this month, when he warned the Democratic-controlled Congress not to give him a budget to sign with excessive earmark spending. But, earlier in his administration, when the Republicans controlled Congress, Bush routinely signed budgets that included pork-barrel projects and earmarked spending.

"That was probably the biggest mistake the Bush administration made,’’ McCain said today.

Both Clinton and Obama, as they campaign for votes in Ohio’s March 4 primary, have pledged to re-write the tax code to reward companies that create jobs here and to take away tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas.

McCain said he will take a different approach.

"I want to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent,’’ McCain said. "That would allow companies to keep more jobs in this country, rather than sending them overseas."

McCain was headed to Ohio for a rally at a downtown Columbus hotel tonight, where he and supporters will learn the results of today’s Wisconsin primary.

Wednesday, he will head to Young’s Jersey Dairy, an ice cream parlor and tourist attraction in Greene County, where he will hold a meet-and-greet with supporters. Young’s is near the home of former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a McCain friend and his Ohio campaign chairman.

-- Howard Wilkinson