FEC ruling favors McCain over Dems

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential hopeful John McCain won a round against Democrats on Thursday when the Federal Election Commission (FEC) rejected their contention that he violated campaign-finance laws during the GOP primary.

The FEC's draft opinion affirms McCain's right to bypass the public-financing system and its strict spending limits. That was a rejection of the Democratic National Committee's complaint asserting that McCain's campaign had wrongly received loans based on his participation in public financing before later withdrawing from that system.

Lawyers for the FEC concluded that McCain did not pledge to use public financing as collateral for the loans and did not violate the law. The FEC is scheduled to vote on the matter next week.

Obama plane: Was there an emergency?

WASHINGTON — Control-tower tapes show the pilot of Barack Obama's campaign plane told air traffic controllers he had an emergency when he made an unscheduled landing in St. Louis last month, according to ABC News.

At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Midwest Airlines, owner of the MD-80 charter airliner, said there was no emergency.

ABC News reported Thursday that tapes it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show the pilot, who was having trouble controlling the pitch of the plane, told an FAA air traffic controller "at this time we would like to declare an emergency and also have [crash equipment] standing by in St. Louis."

The tapes reveal the pilot reported he no longer had 100 percent control, with only "limited pitch authority" of the aircraft, ABC reported.

Also

Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne is suing John McCain for using Browne's song "Running on Empty" in a campaign ad. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers says the ad is not a McCain campaign ad but one put together by the Ohio Republican Party.

Seattle Times news services