McCain campaign focusing on Hispanics, energy

Presidential candidate John McCain previewed two key themes for the remainder of his campaign Monday — a concentrated effort to attract Hispanic voters, and an energy platform designed to wean the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

McCain used the press conference that fell on Cinco de Mayo to roll out a Spanish-language section of his official campaign Web site. The section — espanol.johnmccain.com — will feature regular updates throughout the election.

The Republican senator from Arizona also said he will attend the La Raza convention in San Diego on July 14.

The presumptive Republican nominee conceded that the tenor of the debate about failed immigration-reform legislation last year harmed the Republican Party’s image among Hispanic voters.

“Most Hispanics want our borders secured. Many low-income Hispanics citizens are the first to lose their jobs when someone comes here illegally if they are holding a low-income job,” he said.

“They also worry about the people who are here illegally — their treatment, their condition, the exploitation of people who don’t have any other protections,” he said.

McCain’s involvement in the proposed immigration reform bill also hurt his standing within his party, particularly among the most conservative Republicans.

He said Monday during the press conference at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that he can’t be concerned about the potential fallout from his new efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters.

He said his message remains unchanged — the borders must be secured in the interest of national security, illegal immigrants who have committed crimes must be identified and deported immediately, and illegal immigrants already living in the United States should not receive an advantage over legal immigrants in becoming citizens.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration reform advocacy organization America’s Voice, told reporters during a national teleconference later that McCain likely does not want to relive the immigration debate during the rest of the campaign.

“Look, Sen. McCain is in a difficult position. Many of us have worked with him over the years and seen him expend tremendous political capital trying to advance comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.

“Sen. McCain, as the nominee of the Republican Party, with an ‘R’ next to his name, is obviously dealing with a significant number of Republican voters for whom deportation is the only option,” Sharry said.

The backlash already has prompted McCain to change his approach from a one-step strategy to address border security and immigration reform simultaneously, to a two-step approach that addresses the border first and immigration reform second, he said.

The issue could tilt the election if McCain fails to handle it properly, Sharry said.

“If the Republicans are identified, as they increasingly are, as an anti-immigrant party and Sen. McCain, who has his own brand as a maverick and as an immigration reformer, is unable to highlight his support of comprehensive immigration reform for fear of losing Republican voters, it’s going to be a tremendous opportunity for the Democratic candidate,” Sharry said.

Both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are articulate and outspoken on their views for the need for immigration reform, he said during the teleconference that addressed the politics and policy of immigration reform.

The Republican National Committee bolstered McCain’s efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters by releasing a statement Monday commemorating the “many contributions Mexican-Americans” make every day.

“As a party, we commit ourselves to the issues that affect all Americans, including Hispanics, and offer solutions that support small business, diversity and education,” committee chairman Mike Duncan said in the statement.

“With Sen. John McCain as our presumptive presidential nominee, our party will continue to support the American dream and offer opportunities to make it a reality,” he said.

Concerning energy, McCain told reporters during his press conference that in coming weeks he’ll introduce a broad range of proposals designed to provide energy independence.

“We all know that our national security interests lie in our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. I will make sure that that dependence is eliminated, so that it will never be the source for any reason for us to be in a conflict in the Middle East,” McCain said.

The candidate did not foreshadow any of his proposals to accomplish the goal.

The country burned 20.6 million barrels of petroleum a day in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, which provides the official energy statistics for the federal government.

Of the country’s total consumption, 59.9 percent was imported from foreign countries.

McCain also reiterated his call for a federal “gas-tax holiday,” a proposal for a summerlong suspension of the federal gasoline tax, which comes to 18 cents a gallon.

“I find people who are the wealthiest are the most dismissive of a plan to give low-income Americans a little bit of a holiday for three months so they have something a little more to give to their children to enjoy their summer a little more,” he said.

McCain noted that some estimates have pegged the gas tax savings at about $30 for the average family.

“Thirty dollars means nothing to a lot of economists — I understand that. It means a lot to some of the low-income Americans. I’ve already talked to several of them, so let’s give them a little relief,” he said.

The federal government could make up for the lost income from the tax by eliminating certain pork-barrel projects, he said.