Adoption top issue for Mrs. McCain

Arizona senator's wife, addressing Hilton Head Island audience, says children important to her

Web posted February 17, 2000

 Have a thought? Go to the @ugusta Forums.
 Follow the Quest for the Presidency

By Frank Morris
Morris News Service

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- If her husband, John McCain, becomes president, Cindy McCain would make child adoption her cause as first lady, she said on a Wednesday campaign stop.

But her first priority would be remaining a good mother to the couple's four school-age children and being a supportive wife, Mrs. McCain told an audience of about 160 people at The Seabrook retirement community.

Mrs. McCain said she and her husband have maintained their home in Arizona to raise their children, ages 15, 13, 11 and 8, across the street from her parents. Her husband has commuted home on weekends from Senate business in Washington.

She said she chose to be a ``stay-at-home mom because I felt the most important thing I could do in my life would be to be able to raise decent human beings in my home.''

She noted they adopted their fourth and youngest child, Bridget, who was a baby when Mrs. McCain brought her home from a visit to Bangladesh.

As first lady, Mrs. McCain said, ``what I'd like to see is adoption made easier, less expensive and less bureaucratic'' to give more orphans families.

``Too many families are being forced outside the United States to adopt,'' she said.

In his 17 years in Congress, Mr. McCain has cast many difficult votes and not always followed the line of the Republican Party or its leaders, she conceded.

``But that makes him an independent person who says and does what he believes,'' she said.

The campaign's goal was not only to bring reform, but also ``to bring young people back to the party,'' Mrs. McCain said. Win or lose, ``if we have inspired a young generation of people to get involved, then we've done the right thing.''

To stress that ideal, she said her husband had decided earlier in the week to return his campaign to a focus on the ``clear differences between candidates on issues'' and drop negative advertisements.

``I have never been more proud of my husband than I was the other day when he said, `No more negative ads,''' she said.

Also addressing the group was U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford of Charleston, an early supporter of Mr. McCain's presidential bid. He said a win for Mr. McCain in Saturday's GOP primary in South Carolina -- which has a much more diverse population than New Hampshire -- is important to show that his upset New Hampshire primary victory over rival George W. Bush was not an anomaly.

``If (Mr. Bush's) bubble gets popped twice, it's truly a popped bubble,'' Mr. Sanford said.