McCain appeals to Ohio conservatives

CINCINNATI, June 27 (UPI) -- Participants in a closed-door meeting with John McCain said the likely Republican U.S. presidential nominee would consider an anti-abortion rights running mate.

Participants also said McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, pledged to speak more openly about his opposition to same-sex marriage and other issues of concern to social conservatives, the Los Angeles Times reported. He later endorsed a ballot measure in California to ban same-sex marriage.

"It was obvious there were a lot of changed hearts in the room," Phil Burress, who led Ohio's anti-gay-marriage ballot measure in 2004, said of the meeting in Cincinnati. "We realized that he's with us on the majority of the issues we care about."

McCain has been walking a tightrope in trying to appeal to conservatives as well as moderate Democrats and independents who may not care for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Times said.

Burress said McCain can't win evangelicals only by meeting with them in private -- he must support them publicly.

"We told him that if he didn't come out and share his pro-family stances on these issues, then he can kiss Ohio goodbye," he said. "We can't deliver his message for him."