McCain dogged by questions

Emmanuel Parisse

Arlington - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, on the back foot after poor recent polling data, is being dogged by questions about the experience of his running mate Sarah Palin.

Endlessly asked about the qualifications of his vice presidential pick, the famously short-tempered McCain has replied with increasing irritation to questions from journalists.

In Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday, he was asked if he had sought advice from Palin, who has been widely ridiculed in recent days after a series of interviews that have often shown her lost for words under tough questioning.

"I've turned to her for advice many times in the past," McCain told a journalist from National Public Radio (NPR), without specifying on what subjects.

"I can't imagine turning to Senator (Barack) Obama or Senator (Joe) Biden because they've been wrong," McCain continued, referring to his Democrat opponents in the November 4 presidential election.

"They were wrong about Iraq. They were wrong about Russia ... Senator Obama has no experience whatsoever and has been wrong in the issues that he's been involved in," he said.

"But would you turn to Governor Palin?" insisted the reporter.

"I certainly wouldn't turn to them, and I've already have turned to Governor Palin, particularly on energy issues," McCain responded.

'I think the American people have overwhelmingly shown their approval'

"I've appreciated her background and knowledge on that and many other issues," said McCain, without specifying which ones.

The day before in Des Moines, Iowa, he ripped into a journalist who asked him about his choice of the inexperienced Palin, who got a passport for the first time in 2006.

"Thank you, but I disagree with your fundamental principal that she doesn't have the experience," he said.

The 72-year-old McCain then took the journalist to task about an assertion that Palin was beginning to worry some Republican voters.

"Really? I haven't detected that in the polls, I haven't detected that among the base," he said, before sarcastically referring to the affluent Georgetown area of Washington DC.

"If there's a Georgetown cocktail party person who, quote, calls himself a conservative who doesn't like her, good luck. I don't dismiss him. I think the American people have overwhelmingly shown their approval," he continued.

McCain's Democrat rival Barack Obama is building widening leads in battlegrounds Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to new polls released on Wednesday.

One McCain aide acknowledged the Arizona senator had an uphill battle.

"When you run for president in an historically challenging political climate, when the party is historically unpopular, and a crisis threatens to make the economy collapse, it is always going to be challenging," McCain communications adviser Nicolle Wallace told AFP.

"But I think ... in the next 30 days John McCain will be recognised and appreciated by voters for his leadership."

- AFP