Today on the presidential campaign trail

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McCain's national finance co-chair Loeffler resigns because of lobbyist ties ... Huckabee says he'd like to join GOP ticket as John McCain's running mate ... Obama tells seniors McCain would threaten Social Security; Clinton stumps in Kentucky ...

McCain's national finance co-chair resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain's national finance co-chairman has stepped down, the latest casualty of a presidential campaign eager to cauterize damage caused by its ties to lobbyists.

Former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, one of McCain's key fundraisers, resigned in the wake of a new McCain policy on conflicts of interest that required campaign volunteers to disclose their lobbying connections

"Mr. Loeffler has resigned from his position with the campaign," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Sunday.

Loeffler, who runs the lobbying shop The Loeffler Group, is the highest profile departure from McCain's inner circle since a summer 2007 shake-up cost McCain his campaign manager and chief strategist.

Among Loeffler's clients is the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the parent company of plane manufacturer Airbus. Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS won a lucrative contract to provide air refueling tankers for the Air Force. McCain helped scuttle an earlier contract in 2004 that would have gone to a competitor, Boeing Co.

Loeffler's firm also has lobbied for other foreign interests and foreign governments. Newsweek reported over the weekend that Loeffler's firm was paid $15 million by Saudi Arabia. The news magazine also said Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to "discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations," even though Loeffler told a reporter last month that he had not discussed his clients with McCain.

McCain's new policy prohibits any staffer on the campaign from being a registered lobbyist or foreign agent.

The work of lobbyists close to McCain had become fodder for critics, undermining McCain's image as a reformer who has tried to restrict the influence special interests in government.

Huckabee says he would like to be McCain's No. 2

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he'd like to be John McCain's running mate.

"There's no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain," said Huckabee, who was a stronger than expected challenger against McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "All during the campaign when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately. ... I still wanted to win, but if I couldn't, John McCain was always the guy I would have supported and have now supported.

"But whether or not I do the best for him, that's something that only he can decide," Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who had strong support from religious conservatives, won the leadoff Iowa caucuses and seven other states. He left the race in March after Arizona Sen. McCain clinched the nomination following a series of big victories.

Huckabee also apologized again for remarks he made Friday to the National Rifle Association. Responding to an offstage noise during a speech, Huckabee said it was Democrat Barack Obama diving to the floor after someone had aimed a gun at him. Huckabee issued an apology Friday evening.

"It was a dumb, off-the-cuff remark," he said.

Obama warns seniors on Social Security

GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) - Hours before being greeted by the biggest crowd of his campaign, Democrat Barack Obama quietly told a small group of seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security they depend on because he supports privatizing the program.

Fire officials estimated 65,000 packed into a riverside park for a spectacular afternoon rally at a sun-splashed scene on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland. They said an additional 15,000 were left outside and dozens of boaters could be seen floating in the river.

"Wow, wow, wow," Obama said as he surveyed the audience. "We have had a lot of rallies. This is the most spectacular setting, the most spectacular crowd we have had this entire campaign."

While more subdued, his appearance early in the day before about 130 people at an assisted living facility to talk Social Security was a significant attempt to tie the GOP's presidential nominee-in-waiting to an unpopular President Bush on a pocket book issue that motivates seniors - and also concerns younger generations worried about their own future retirement.

"Let me be clear, privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George W. Bush proposed it, it's a bad idea today," Obama said.

Bush proposed a Social Security plan in 2005 that focused on creating private accounts for younger workers, but it never came up for a vote in Congress.

Obama was in Oregon, where he is favored to win the state's presidential primary on Tuesday. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a second straight day in Kentucky, where she is favored to win when its voters head to the polls the same day.

"Now, my opponent said the other day he wasn't coming back, so I've got the whole state to myself," Clinton said, sounding happy not to be sharing the Kentucky spotlight. "What a treat."

THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton holds rallies in Lexington and Louisville, Ky. Barack Obama talks to voters in Billings and Bozeman, Mont.

THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain gives a speech to the National Restaurant Association in Chicago.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"It wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said. And ... it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said." - Mike Huckabee apologizing again for saying during a speech to the National Rifle Association that an offstage noise was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.

STAT OF THE DAY:

Records from the Kentucky Board of Elections show that 53 percent of the state's registered voters are women.

Compiled by Ann Sanner and Ronald Powers.


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