Dayton Daily News - McCain: Ohio is key
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Dayton Daily News - McCain: Ohio is key
The questioners were critical, some were combative, and few attendees were converted at a town hall meeting with U.S. Sen. John McCain Thursday, June 26.
Republican presidential candidate McCain stood in the middle of a board room at Xavier University, surrounded by faculty, students and more than 150 voters.
Campaign officials said the voters were undecided Democrats and Republicans, invited through a random phone poll, and they questioned the senator from Arizona on energy independence, foreign policy and women's rights.
The first question came from Jack Kuntz, owner of a Cincinnati company that converts cars to run on electricity. He asked how the government was going to support efforts such as his that work to eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil.
McCain lauded his recently proposed "Lexington Project," which, among other things, would offer a $300 million award to the first company to create an improved car battery.
"We can meet this challenge, but we're going to have to make hard decisions," McCain said, calling for an effort similar to the space race to beat the current energy crisis.
Answering questions about federal spending, McCain promised to veto any bill that included pork-barrel projects. On Iraq, McCain said a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops would embolden Iran and terrorist groups. He said progress is being made there.
"We will be able to withdraw with honor and victory and not in defeat," he said.
Toward the end of his talk, McCain repeated challenges for Democratic candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama to join him on the town hall meeting circuit.
"I think Americans are tired of the sound bites and the 'gotchas,'" he said. "I think they'd like to see us appearing together and responding to the questions and comments people have."
There will be more chances. McCain predicted that whoever wins Ohio in the November general election will likely be the next president. "I'll be spending a lot of time in the great state of Ohio," he said.
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