The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

McCain speaks at local GOP dinner

Speaking at the Reagan Day dinner in Presidents Hall at American Serb Hall, 5101 Oklahoma Ave.,”Looking to be a party unifier, Republican presidential front-runner John McCain emphasized his positions on national security and spending at a GOP dinner in Milwaukee Friday night.

Speaking at the Reagan Day dinner in Presidents Hall at American Serb Hall, 5101 Oklahoma Ave., the Arizona senator looked past the primaries towards the general election. He attempted to show his "stark difference" to Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin primary election.

"I will compete if I am the nominee of the Republican Party in Wisconsin and every place in this nation," McCain said. "I will not allow the Democrats to have a single state. We will compete here in the heartland of America. I will compete in the state of Wisconsin and we will carry the state of Wisconsin."

McCain campaigned in La Crosse and Oshkosh earlier Friday and attended a downtown Milwaukee fundraiser before speaking to about 400 Republican supporters in the evening.

McCain vowed to unite and re-energize his party while asking Democrats to reach across the aisle and work together with Republicans on the war in Iraq. Voicing his support for increased troop levels in Iraq, McCain vowed to remain in Iraq to take on the "transcendent challenge of radical Islamic extremism."

"I wanna look you in the eye and tell you I will never, ever surrender," McCain said. "They will. They will surrender and we won't."

McCain reiterated his fiscally conservative stance on spending, railing against congressional earmark projects and promising to veto any bill with so-called pork-barrel projects if elected. He estimated that spending bills in the past two years have totaled $35 billion in earmark spending—money which McCain said could go to fund $1,000 child tax credits instead.

"We (should be) more interested in the children of America than in the pork of America," he said.

McCain was introduced by former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who dropped of the presidential race last year in August. Thompson went on to endorse former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, then switched his support to McCain after Giuliani dropped out last month.

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