McCain talks border, LANL in N.M. visit

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

7/14/2008 - 7/15/08

ALBUQUERQUE — Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Monday that if elected he would ask Los Alamos National Laboratory to work on a "national mission" of energy independence.

"I'd like to put them to work on some additional areas of energy," the Arizona Republican said of the weapons research laboratory, which has been facing funding cutbacks.

At the same time, though, McCain emphasized he'd keep the lab's current mission.

"We've got to let 1,000 flowers bloom here," he said. "Wind, tide, solar, nuclear, batteries that will run a car for a couple hundred miles," McCain told New Mexico reporters during a ride through Albuquerque on his Straight Talk Express campaign bus.

McCain, who last visited Albuquerque in late June, was in New Mexico to raise funds and campaign in what is considered a battleground state in this year's presidential race.

The candidate later Monday was expected to attend a fundraiser with prominent Republicans at the local Hilton hotel. An invitation listed suggested donations ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

Today, McCain was scheduled to hold a town hall gathering in Albuquerque with 500 guests. Tickets for the event were given away on a first-come, first-served basis.

During the 23-minute bus ride from the Albuquerque airport to the hotel, between catching glimpses of Fox News on a TV in the back of the giant bus, McCain also expressed hopes for reform of the nation's immigration laws.

"I think we can get to an overall immigration reform very soon, we just have to say we'll secure the borders first," McCain said. "Hispanics want the border secure, they see the trucks coming across the border.

"Here in New Mexico and Arizona, one of the standard tactics is to send a group of illegals across, they call the Border Patrol, the Border Patrol comes ... and then the drug dealers come behind them. They know the cruelties of the coyotes (smugglers). They want a temporary worker program that works."

Both McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, are expected to spend more time in the coming months in New Mexico, seen as a swing state with a critical Hispanic population.

McCain has aired several television and radio ads in New Mexico, with the most recent TV ad aimed at attracting Hispanic voters. In the ad, he praises Hispanics for service in the U.S. military, including green card holders.

Obama, during his last trip to New Mexico in late June, said LANL would remain a weapons-research facility under his administration. But, if he's elected, LANL also would be at the forefront of research for technology to aide in nuclear nonproliferation, the Illinois senator said.

"Los Alamos has been one of our premier research facilities, and we need to do more research in this area, in part because we've got to deal with the critical issues of nonproliferation," the Democratic contender said.

Obama said he would put a priority on developing technology to detect "loose," unaccounted-for nuclear material. He also said there needs to be a technology to ensure nuclear materials designed for civilian purposes in countries that don't currently have nuclear weapons aren't turned into bombs.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.santafenewmexican.com.