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McCain Adviser Will Quit If Obama Is Nominee

McKinnon says he respects Dem too much to attack him

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 14, 2008 6:30 PM CST

(Newser) – John McCain's chief media adviser will leave the campaign if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee—because he has too much respect for the Illinois senator to go negative against him. “I will be supporting from the sidelines,” Mark McKinnon said when asked yesterday if he’d follow through on a pledge not to be in a fight versus Obama, the Chicago Tribune reports.

McKinnon, who has also been a high-level Bush aide, said he will “be supporting 100% John McCain under any circumstances.” But “I like him a great deal," he said of Obama—and though he disagrees “on very fundamental issues,” he would "simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking” him. He added that negativity would hurt McCain’s chances.

Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters on his campaign plane enroute from Kansas to Seattle, while one of his Democratic rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, D- Ill., is seen on an in flight TV screen Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters on his campaign plane enroute from Kansas to Seattle, while one of his Democratic rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, D- Ill., is...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a break between the televised Republican presidential debate and the Democratic presidential debate at Saint Anselm College Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008 in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a break between the televised Republican presidential debate and the...   (Associated Press)
Mark McKinnon, chief media adviser for Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, listens to McCain at a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 in Phoenix, Ariz. After his Super Tuesday victories in California, New York and other major states, McCain, an underdog for months, proclaimed himself the front-runner...
Mark McKinnon, chief media adviser for Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, listens to McCain at a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 in Phoenix, Ariz. After his Super...   (Associated Press)
Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, walks with his campaign media adviser Mark McKinnon, left, at their hotel the morning after McCain's South Carolina presidential primary victory in Charleston, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, walks with his campaign media adviser Mark McKinnon, left, at their hotel the morning after McCain's South Carolina presidential primary...   (Associated Press)
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Read McKinnon's biography here
Public Strategies Inc.

Listen to the interview with the strategist in which he made the pledge
NPR

 
Barack Obama • John McCain • negative campaigning • Mark McKinnon

 
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