WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- A debate of the U.S. Senate record of likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain is casting him as both a bridge-builder and a gadfly, observers say.
His supporters say McCain's emergence as a Senate power broker after 2000 showed he could forge useful relationships with both backers and detractors of U.S. President George Bush. But some Democrats cast his record as that of a fickle gadfly who has swung to the party's right wing, The New York Times reported Monday.
"(McCain) is a lot more savvy than a lot of people realize -- targeted, tactical, strategic -- and sometimes only he knows what his real objective is," U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., told the newspaper.
"You couldn't tell which John McCain would come to work on any given day," countered U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., a supporter of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
The newspaper reported that McCain's friends say he isn't an ideologue, usually favoring limited-government conservative views but also willing to expand government authority if the goal seemed important enough.
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HENRIETTA, N.Y., Nov. 22 (UPI) --
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared in South Strabane, Pa., and Henrietta, N.Y., in promotion for her book "Going Rogue," event organizers said.
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