Text size:

Report: Bloomberg to tout McCain

This story was supplemented with an Associated Press report.

July 25, 2008

As Barack Obama delivered a high-profile speech in Berlin, John McCain had his own German experience - at a restaurant in Ohio - as reports swirled that the Arizona Republican's campaign may get a boost from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

ABC News reported on its Web site that Bloomberg plans to tout McCain in a speech to the Independence Party of Minnesota in Minneapolis this morning. The report said Bloomberg is expected to stop short of giving McCain a full endorsement, but quoted Independence chairman Craig Swaggert as saying, "I feel confident that there will be some positive statements" about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Bloomberg spokesman Lindsay Ellenbogen told ABC, "I expect [Bloomberg] to talk about effective independent leadership and leaders who exemplify it" at the party's $100-per-person fundraiser.

While in Minneapolis, Bloomberg also is slated to attend a news conference with Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (via satellite) to push both parties to add infrastructure planks to their platforms.

In Columbus, Ohio, yesterday, McCain told reporters after a meal of bratwurst with local business leaders at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant, "I'd love to give a speech in Germany. But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president."

In what was clearly not a coincidence, McCain spoke with reporters shortly before Obama began his speech at Berlin's Victory Column.

At the same time, the Republican National Committee was running anti-Obama ads in Berlin, Pa., and other namesake villages in Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

McCain is trying hard to get attention during Obama's week abroad. He had planned to visit an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, but rough seas left over from Hurricane Dolly caused him to scrub that trip.

Yesterday, he shared a stage at Ohio State University with fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong at a forum that focused on cancer treatment and prevention.

Today, McCain will meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, in Aspen, Colo.