McCain to look over possible ticket mates

Sen. John McCain of Arizona is set to meet with at least three potential running mates at his ranch this weekend in Arizona, suggesting he is stepping up his search for a vice-presidential candidate, according to Republicans familiar with McCain's plans.

Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and a onetime rival for the Republican nomination, accepted invitations to visit McCain at his ranch in Sedona, Republicans said.

An aide described this as a social weekend that would include 10 couples and declined to discuss any aspect of the vice-presidential search.

Some McCain associates said Wednesday the weekend would give McCain a chance to get to know some potential running mates in a social context. McCain associates said personal chemistry would be a crucial consideration in his choice.

McCain himself has said his choice of a running mate would draw particular scrutiny from voters given his age; he is 71, or "as old as dirt," as he likes to joke, while quickly adding that he is in good health.

McCain has said he had assembled a list of about 20 potential running mates. He said he had not decided when he would make a decision.

Among the other potential running mates are Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Rob Portman, former director of the Office of Management and Budget who had been an Ohio congressman.

Clinton says battle may go to convention

TAMPA, Fla. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raised the possibility Wednesday that she might carry her fight to the convention.

With more superdelegate endorsements after Kentucky and Oregon primaries the night before, Clinton's rival, Sen. Barack Obama, was just 64 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination. As of Wednesday night, he had 1,962 delegates to Clinton's 1,779.

Clinton campaigned in Florida on Wednesday, pressing to narrow her gap with Obama by having delegates counted from its renegade January primary.

Democratic rule-makers are to meet May 31 to decide whether to count delegates from Florida and Michigan; the states were stripped of their delegates as punishment for holding early primaries in violation of party rules.

Clinton won both states, but Obama had his name removed from Michigan's ballot and neither candidate campaigned in those states.

Clinton said she is willing to take her fight to seat Florida's and Michigan's delegates to the convention in Denver in August if the two states want to go that far.

Asked if she envisioned the race extending beyond June 3, Clinton replied: "It could. I hope it doesn't ... but we'll have to see what happens."

Geoff Garin, Clinton's pollster, told MSNBC that she could campaign beyond the June 3 primaries because "there are enough uncommitted delegates left for either candidate to earn a majority."

Garin added that at some point, one candidate would have enough to win the nomination, "but we have not reached that point yet; we probably won't reach that point on June 3."

Obama hits McCain on lobbyist ties

TAMPA, Fla. — Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday criticized Republican John McCain where it could hurt most: the Arizona senator's reputation as a champion of ethics.

Ten years ago, Obama said, McCain proposed barring registered lobbyists from working for candidates' campaigns.

"John McCain then would be pretty disappointed in John McCain now, because he hired some of the biggest lobbyists in Washington to run his campaign," Obama told a crowd of 15,000 at a Tampa arena.

McCain recently enforced a new no-lobbyist policy on his campaign, forcing out some top aides.

Also

The United Mine Workers of America endorsed Barack Obama for president Wednesday.

Seattle Times news services