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ON THE TRAIL

June 15, 2008

John McCain, after facing questions from the media,

was forced to cancel a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who once joked that women should give in while being raped. The Texan, Republican Clayton "Claytie" Williams, made the joke during his failed 1990 campaign for governor against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." He also compared Richards to the cattle on his ranch, saying he would "head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt." Williams' comments made national news at the time and remain easy to find on the Internet. Even so, McCain's campaign said it hadn't known about the remarks. "These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time ... [the event] was scheduled," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said. The campaign said it would not return money Williams had raised for McCain because the contributions came from other individuals supporting McCain and not from Williams. Williams told his hometown newspaper, the Midland Reporter-Telegram, that he had raised more than $300,000 for McCain. The flap comes as McCain's campaign reaches out to women and to backers of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Barack Obama pledged to push an aggressive economic agenda as president: cutting taxes for the middle class, raising taxes on the wealthy, pouring money into "green energy" and requiring employers to set up retirement saving plans for their workers. Campaigning in Pennsylvania yesterday, a key battleground in the fall campaign, Obama said he would take a much more hands-on approach than would McCain. He again criticized McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax. It would "actually do real harm," Obama said, by reducing revenue for road and bridge construction even as oil companies make record profits. Obama visited the flooded Midwest later yesterday, stopping in Quincy, Ill., to help fill sandbags.

Former Gov. Mark R. Warner yesterday removed himself from consideration as a vice-presidential running mate for Obama. Warner clarified his intentions for the first time as he accepted the Virginia Democratic Convention's nomination for a U.S. Senate race this fall.