This morning I jumped on one of Senator John McCain's regularly scheduled blogger calls and covered the action for TechRepublican. It's been a while since I was last on one of these calls, but felt good to be back in the mix. I tried to catch everything, but missed a few remarks and what's not in blockquotes is paraphrased.

The call started a few minutes late, due to technical difficulties, but the Senator began by making two points.

1. I've been traveling around the country. Was just in Inez, Kentucky where 44 years ago LBJ vowed to eradicate poverty.

Since then we've learned a number of lessons, including that local control is more effective then bureaucracy in Washington, DC.

Yesterday, I walked the 9th Ward in New Orleans with Governor Bobby Jindal.

I vowed it would never happen again.

2. There's an ongoing debate about the economy.

If Americans want their taxes raised, then I'm not their guy.

Spending is the problem in DC, not the lack of revenue.

Anyone who wants to raise taxes in difficult times doesn't understand basic economics.

I want to give Americans a break on their gas taxes this summer - $0.18 on gas, $0.24 on diesel.

Questions
Why did you ask the NC GOP to pull their ad linking Sen. Obama to Rev. Wright?

I asked them to pull the North Carolina ad because it isn't the tenor of the campaign that we want to wage.

There are many other issues that need to be discussed and that's not one of them.

Will you campaign strongly in California?

I intend to compete in California. I'm a western Senator, I understand the issues of a western state. It has 53 votes, and Governor Schwarzenegger has proved that you can compete there.

What are your recent impressions of Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki?

His decision to go into Basra surprised all of us, had some set-backs, and the Iraqi army had some desertions. But the Iraqi military has taken over the entire city of Basra.

His actions seems to have the united the government more... Overall, I'm rather pleased.

Jim Geraghty
Regarding Senator Obama's relationship with Rev. Wright, is that something that voters deserve to know about?

(There was a lot of static on this part of the call, so I couldn't catch everthing Sen. McCain said.)

It's my view that the ad is inappropriate and should be taken down. As the party's nominee, I cannot order the the North Carolina state party to take the ad down though.

However, the fundamental purpose of the Republican party structure is to elect Republican candidates and I don't think that helps do that.

Jennifer Rubin
Hamas has indicated they would be very pleased with an Obama presidency, thoughts?

I will be Hamas worst nightmare.

Senator McCain said he'll be leaving for Arkansas today to travel the state with Mike Huckabee and then heading to Florida on Sunday for some fundraisers.

He once again extend an invite to bloggers to join him on his campaign bus, and expressed his appreciation for the hard work we bloggers are doing.

The call ended at about 10:30AM.