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McCain Not Concerned About Fred Thompson
Presidential hopeful John McCain said Thursday during a fundraising stop in Mississippi that Fred Thompson would make a viable Republican candidate, but he didn't express concern that his former Senate colleague would siphon off votes in the GOP primary. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee and "Law & Order" actor, seems poised to announce a run in 2008, and would join a field of Republican candidates led by McCain, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Thompson supported McCain in his failed 2000 bid for the Republican nomination and the two worked together on key issues in the Senate. "We're old friends," McCain said. "I'm sure Fred will add a lot to the campaign."
Story Continues Below The comments came in a brief meeting with reporters and a handful of spectators at the Jackson airport, before McCain left for three private fundraising events. Mississippi is a conservative state and its electoral votes have gone to Republicans in every presidential election since 1980. McCain also touched on immigration and the war in Iraq, saying supporters of President Bush's recent surge of troops in Baghdad knew the effort would amount to more casualties. But he said it was a vital part of a new plan for victory in the war-torn country. At least 122 members of the military have died in Iraq in May, making it one of the deadliest months for American forces since the conflict began. McCain attributed a spike in casualties, in part, to coalition forces patrolling areas the military had not entered before. "Those of us who supported this new strategy -- as I do -- predicted more casualties. It's a long, hard and tough process," McCain said. "I'm not saying it's safe (in Iraq); it's safer. And I'm saying, 'If we leave, it will follow us home.'" McCain also defended a new immigration policy that could someday clear the way for millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Earlier in the day, on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Jackson, protesters criticized the plan, saying it amounted to amnesty. McCain said the plan would help keep Americans safe in the long run and provides for a long process before an illegal immigrant could achieve citizenship. He added that "12 million people illegally in the country is de facto amnesty."
© 2007 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2008 Presidential Race
Inside Cover Stories
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