McCain urges probe of firm he helped

WILMINGTON, Ohio — Republican John McCain called Thursday for a federal investigation into plans by the DHL shipping company that could cost 10,000 jobs in Wilmington, as he and his campaign manager took criticism for helping DHL complete a key corporate merger in 2003.

With Democrats and labor groups blaming McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis for their role in the threat to local jobs, McCain moved to demonstrate his concern about possible job losses in Ohio, a critical swing state.

The Republican presidential candidate called on the Justice Department to begin an antitrust investigation into DHL's plans to put its packages aboard the planes of a rival, United Parcel Service, before delivering them in DHL trucks. Because UPS flies out of Louisville, Ky., the plans call for shutting the DHL shipping hub in Wilmington that uses the local airport and eliminating up to 10,000 jobs.

McCain met with elected officials and residents of the southwest Ohio city to discuss the DHL plans. "I can't assure you that this train wreck isn't going to happen, but I will do everything in my power to see that we avert it," McCain said.

He said Congress may need to intervene and, if DHL is allowed to proceed, he would like to see a rapid response to help displaced workers and to try to draw other business to the Wilmington site.

Since The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer broke the story, Democrats and labor groups have been pointing out that five years ago McCain and Davis aided German-owned DHL in completing its purchase of U.S.-owned competitor Airborne Express, which had long operated the Wilmington hub.

In 2003, McCain, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, urged then-Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens to abandon a proposed bill to prohibit foreign-owned carriers from flying U.S. military equipment or troops. Airborne Express said the bill was aimed at torpedoing its merger with DHL, the U.S.-based shipping unit of German postal service Deutsche Post.

At the same time, when he was a lobbyist, Davis helped persuade Congress to accept the merger.

Davis took a leave of absence from his lobbying practice to work for McCain. A campaign spokesman said Davis had not worked with DHL since 2005, long before DHL announced plans to leave Wilmington.

Earlier Thursday, McCain, who has contended that Sen. Barack Obama is willing to lose in Iraq to win the election, said his Democratic rival would forfeit the war as part of an agenda that also promotes big government and high taxes.

McCain told people at a town-hall meeting in Lima, in northwest Ohio, that Obama is a talented orator with an agenda of simple policies the Arizona Republican opposes.

"Government is too big, he wants to grow it. Taxes are too high, he wants to raise them," McCain said. "Congress spends too much and he proposes more. We need more energy and he's against producing it. We're finally winning in Iraq, and he wants to forfeit."