THE CANDIDATES:

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

McCain and Bloomberg talk buzzes

John McCain is scheduled to speak at a small business roundtable in Bay Ridge today. He'll be introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The mayor has not declared his support for any presidential candidate, although he has said he would support someone who worked to solve problems and avoided partisan politics.

NRA: McCain has work to do with gun owners

“John McCain still has some work to do to give them a comfort level,” Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA, said during an interview with The Hill. “Truth be told, he’s not there yet.”

Cox said McCain and the anti-gun control group have endured some “high-profile disagreements” in the last several years that have left many gun owners concerned about his candidacy.

Specifically, McCain played a leading role in crafting the campaign finance reform law that bears his name and that also enraged many lobbying groups. The NRA was one of the most outspoken.

Asked about deficit, McCain cites Reagan's example

“When Ronald Reagan came to office,’’ he said, “we had 10 percent unemployment, 20 percent interest rates, and 10 percent inflation, if I’ve got those numbers right. That was when Ronald Reagan came to office in 1980. And so what did we do? We didn’t raise taxes, and we didn’t cut entitlements. What we did was we cut taxes and we put in governmental reductions in regulations, stimulus to the economy, and by the way, Jack Kennedy also did that as well – and so my answer to it is a growing economy. And I think you best grow the economy by the most efficient use of the tax dollar.’’

Foreign policy: 2 camps seek McCain's ear

... concerns have emerged in the weeks since Mr. McCain became his party’s presumptive nominee and began more formally assembling a list of foreign policy advisers. Among those on the list are several prominent neoconservatives, including Robert Kagan, an author who helped write much of the foreign policy speech that Mr. McCain delivered in Los Angeles on March 26, in which he described himself as “a realistic idealist.” Others include the security analyst Max Boot and a former United Nations ambassador, John R. Bolton.

... So far, Mr. McCain has not established a formal foreign policy briefing process within his campaign. If he needs information or perspective on an issue, advisers say he picks up the phone and calls any number of people, among them Mr. Kissinger, Mr. Shultz or Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.

McCain won't rule out pre-emptive war

McCain outlines differences with Bush

Speaking before a global investment firm this afternoon, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took pains to distance himself from President Bush even as he reiterated his support for Gen. David Petraeus's handling of the war in Iraq.

Campaign finance reform group targets McCain

...Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan group, once rallied behind McCain's proposals for new campaign finance laws. Tonight, as McCain is joined at the Willard Hotel by a crowd of Washington lobbyists who will be donating to his presidential campaign, the group will protest the senator who was once an ally. David Donnelly, the group's national campaigns director, is releasing a sharply critical report called "McCain's Multiple Views on Public Financing of Elections." The report outlines McCain's gathering support for the concept of public financing and then shows his retreat over the past two years.

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Hillary told true tale of woe, says kin of dead woman

...over the weekend, Clinton came under fire when officials at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, after reading about her remarks, demanded that she stop recounting it because the patient, Trina Bechtel, was admitted there and did have insurance.

That part, it turns out, is true. But so is Clinton's claim that Bechtel did not get care at another hospital that wanted a $100 pre-payment before seeing her, according to the young woman's aunt, Lisa Casto. "It's a true story," said Casto, 53.

Casto added some details that were not part -- or differed from -- the Clinton anecdote: She said her niece had previously been in debt to a local hospital that later sent her a letter informing her that she could only be treated there in the future if she gave them a $100 deposit. At the time she went into debt to that hospital, Casto said, Bechtel was uninsured, though she later obtained health insurance and was insured at the time of her death.

Hillary steps away from husband's position on trade

In the wake of reports that both her husband and former chief strategist support expanded trade relations with Colombia, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said again on Wednesday that she opposes the pending free trade agreement -- and that there is no conflict within her campaign on the subject.

Many couples disagree on issues, she said. And, Clinton said, "this is a great debate."

Elton John: sexism hurts Hillary Clinton