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Show DAItY HERALD July 31, 2008 Thursday, Al MTION& World Details sometimes fall away as candidates campaign Charles Babington THE ASSOCIATED "I PRESS Details WASHINGTON can bedevil any presidential candidate. Republican John McCain announced this week tjjat he backs an action referendum that has drawn sharp debate in Arizona, his home state. Then he added a curious note: He doesn't know that much about it. And when McCain was asked earlier this month about always thought it amazing that these folks ... don't slip up more often." Steve Hess professor, George Washington University sentence: "The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment insurance coverage for Viato, any individual or group on gra but not contraceptives, he the basis of race, color, sex, admitted he wasn't sure about ethnicity, or national origin that issue, though he had once in the operation of public emvoted against requiring coverployment, public education, or public contracting." pills. age for At times McCain can appear McCain, who has represented Arizona in Congress to be short on details. In some since 1983, took no stand on instances, he has made misthe referendum until last Sunstatements or eyebrow-raisin- g comments during the long day, when he was asked about it on ABC's "This Week." Sitdays of campaigning in front of cameras and microphones. ting with McCain in Arizona, Sympathetic listeners call them host George Stephanopoulos said: "Opponents of affirmaunderstandable slips of the tive action are trying to get a tongue and question whether referendum on the ballot here any candidate can know everything. Opponents call them that would do away with affirmative action. Do you support gaffes, or worse. that?" "Every candidate, Barack McCain replied: "Yes, I do. Obama included, has shown I do not believe in quotas. But they will make a misstateI have not seen the details of ment," said McCain spokessome of these proposals. But man Tucker Bounds. "John McCain reads and internalizes I've always opposed quotas." "But the one here in enormous amounts of informaArizona you support," Stephation about the most pressing nopoulos said. regional, national and interna"I support it, yes," McCain tional issues every single day. said. He has an incredible skill in On the question of Viagra that regard." versus Indeed, the McCain campills, McCain was aboard his campaign paign, conservative Web sites bus on July 9 when a reporter and others have compiled lists asked about the fairness of of misstatements by his Democratic rival. Some appear to be insurance coverage for one but not the other. minor slips, such as Obama's "I certainly do not want to reference to America's "57 states," or his saying "Israel is discuss that issue," said McIsrael's friend," when he meant Cain, according to a CNN the United States. transcript. The reporter replied, "But I More substantively, in discussing minority issues Obama think you voted against it." "I don't know what I ... " has said on at least two occasaid. He rubbed his McCain black men are sions that more in prison than in college, which face while looking thoughtful. "I'll look at my voting record is inaccurate. I don't reLast week Obama cited a bill on it. But I have But I'll now. call vote the Senate the right Banking passed by Committee, calling it "my com- be glad to look at it." McCain has made other mittee," although he is not on remarks that raised questions that panel. about his attention to details, Some of McCain's remarks or to aides who presumably seem to stem from his generalert him to errors. On three ally breezy nature and occasional tendency to leave details recent occasions he referred to subordinates. A case in point to "Czechoslovakia," a counis the pending referendum in try that hasn't existed since 1993, when it became Slovakia Arizona, which would bar affirmative action efforts in state and the Czech Republic. He also implied that the agencies' hiring, contracting "Sunni Awakening" in Iraq and college admissions. occurred after President Bush Arizonans have debated announced plans in 2006 for the issue for years, and the a surge in U.S. troops, when referendum has been the subfront-pag- e in fact it began several in stories of ject, months before. r major Arizona newspapers. e Steve Hess, a government text is Much of the government boilerplate, with professor at George Washthe gist contained in the first ington University and former speechwriter for President Eisenhower, said voters should not be terribly concerned about such misstatements by Obama or McCain. "I always thought it amazing that these folks, who are out 15 hours a day, running for president, giving instant answers and speeches, don't slip up more often," he said. "The rest of us do." "By and large they are small things, they are easily corrected, and you know that they know the right answer," Hess said. But major news outlets pay more attention to such missteps, he said, because d if they do not, "you're by some amateur with a cell phone out there" who will "rush off to his or her Internet blog" with a juicy soundbite or video clip. Because McCain is nearly 72, Hess said, some critics "are starting to build in a different narrative" about his misstatements or inattention to details. "Once you do that, it feeds on itself." But he warned Democrats to be careful. "I don't think the public gets too upset about calling a country Czechoslovakia even though it hasn't existed for a while," Hess said. Berating a candidate for such slips, he said, "can have a boomerang effect." one-uppe- (".: v it y VVK J 1 1 V AP Sen. John McCain, AP Sen. Barack Obama, D-Il- l. birth-contr- I ) 1 I if A : ' vai'ftl-:'- 'h birth-contr- J A if ' I I . 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