Opponents attest to McCain's eligibility

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- Even opponents of presumptive GOP nominee John McCain say he is eligible to be president, despite being born outside the United States.

McCain, of Arizona, was born in 1936 to U.S. citizen parents on a U.S. Naval air station in Panama.

Some pundits are suggesting that the Constitution clearly bars anyone not born in the United States from being president, including McCain, The Hill Newspaper reported.

But McCain was born in the Canal Zone, which at the time was a U.S. territory.

Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and other senators want to clarify McCain's White House eligibility, The Hill said, and have introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate making it clear that McCain would qualify for the presidency. The effort was spearheaded by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

The resolution says there is no evidence that the framers of the Constitution or any sitting Congress intended to keep children of U.S. citizens serving in the military from running for president, the newspaper reported.