McCain upbeat after medical exam
PHOENIX – John McCain declared Monday he has been cancer-free since a bout with melanoma 7 1/2 years ago after the pending Republican presidential nominee underwent a full medical examination – including a cancer screening – earlier in the day.
The Arizona senator pledged to release the test results before the end of April, the same time frame for releasing his income tax returns.
McCain cast the doctor’s visit as a routine part of his medical regimen. The 71-year-old senator has faced questions about whether he is beyond the risk of a recurrence of cancer.
In August 2000, doctors operated on the left side of his face to treat melanoma. McCain often jokes, “I have more scars than Frankenstein.”
The medical exam was the first order of business in McCain’s first full week as the presumed GOP nominee. It also kicked off a multifaceted effort to reintroduce the senator to voters.
One component was a fundraising tour that will take McCain to Missouri, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois this week.
Next week, he’ll head overseas for a visit to Europe and the Middle East that will include a stop in Iraq. McCain divulged the trip despite security concerns from the Pentagon, telling reporters: “I don’t mind telling you, the Pentagon goes ballistic. They go ballistic.”
Upon his return, he plans a foreign policy address, followed by a tour of important sites in his personal biography.
Among the expected stops: McCain Field in Mississippi, a Navy facility named for his grandfather, a former admiral; Jacksonville, Fla., where McCain returned from his time as a Vietnam prisoner of war and commanded the largest flight squadron in the Navy; and Alexandria, Va., and Annapolis, Md., where he went to high school and then the Naval Academy.
That tour is expected to be followed by a trip aimed at outlining McCain’s positions on issues such as the economy and the environment as well as his concern for less-affluent areas of the country, such as Appalachia.
“Whenever you’re the nominee of your party, I think people will want to re-examine the candidate,” McCain said. “I’d like to believe that all 300 million Americans know me, but unfortunately that’s not the case. I’ll have to work hard to attract their votes.”
Fundraising is fundamental to that effort, because McCain has far less money than his potential Democratic opponents. Senator Hillary Clinton has more than doubled McCain’s donations; Senator Barack Obama has nearly tripled the Arizona senator’s total.
Obama, D-Ill., raised $55 million in February alone, while Clinton, D-N.Y., collected $35 million. McCain has not released his February totals.
Obama and Clinton also far exceed him in cash on hand.
As of Jan. 31, Obama had raised $141 million, with $25 million cash on hand; Clinton had raised $138 million and had $29 million cash on hand.
By contrast, McCain has raised $55 million and had $5.2 million cash on hand at the end of January.