McCain criticizes Obama for vote against chief justice

By LIBBY QUAID Associated Press Writer

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Republican John McCain is castigating Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice.

McCain offered an olive branch to the Christian right in a speech about the kind of judges he would nominate planned for Tuesday at Wake Forest University. The far right has been deeply suspicious of McCain, the expected GOP presidential nominee, because he has clashed with its leaders and worked against them on issues like campaign finance reform.

McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

"They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me," McCain said in his prepared speech.

Obama likes to talk up his image as someone who works with Republicans to get things done, McCain said. Yet Obama "went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee," McCain said.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival, also voted against Roberts, although McCain focused his criticism on Obama.

Tuesday's primaries North Carolina and Indiana, the biggest prizes left in the nomination battle between Clinton and Obama, were likely to overshadow McCain's address. His advisers said the timing was not deliberate and that they accepted the invitation for him to speak several weeks ago.

McCain often is viewed as an independent because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats. Some conservatives dislike his decision to join the "Gang of 14," a group of senators - seven Republicans and seven Democrats - who averted a Senate showdown over whether filibusters could be used against Bush judicial nominees.

On Monday, McCain told reporters he didn't know whether conservatives would forgive him for that decision.

"You'll have to ask them, but I think I was right to do it; we got all but two of the president's nominees through the Senate," McCain said.

Despite the controversy, his actual record is very conservative, particularly on social issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control. However, he said once, in 1999, that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion should not be overturned.

But that was a blip in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortion; he has opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

He voted to require parental consent for abortion and voted to criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a minor to help get an abortion. McCain also supported a ban preventing women in the military from getting abortions with their own money at overseas military hospitals.

He also has cast conservative votes on judges. In fact, McCain has never voted against a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court or federal courts, the Democratic National Committee pointed out.

"Promising four more years of radical judges who are bent on rolling back our basic rights and freedoms is just one more example of why John McCain is the wrong choice for America's future," DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said.