....if he wanted to carry Florida:

McCain avows Crist's value

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor

Published Friday, October 17, 2008 11:31 PM

MELBOURNE — Sen. John McCain acknowledged in an exclusive interview
Friday that he probably would be better positioned in must-win Florida
if he had picked Gov. Charlie Crist as his running mate.

The Republican presidential nominee expressed no regrets for choosing
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and said Florida was sure to be a hard-fought
state with almost any vice presidential pick — besides Crist.

"Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a
significant difference,'' McCain said in an interview with the St.
Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.

"I think this would have been a battleground state, except for obviously
(with) a popular governor as Charlie Crist is,'' McCain said.


*****"Look, this is a tough decision that we made with Sarah Palin. But
I also saw Sarah Palin come down here and energize crowds in a way
that's pretty remarkable, too."*****

McCain has been hammering Sen. Barack Obama for his associations with
the likes of 1960s radical William Ayers and the controversial community
organizing group ACORN. But he declined in the interview to talk about
his own relationship with Harry Sargeant, a top McCain fundraiser from
Palm Beach County accused Thursday by the Democratic chairman of the
U.S. House oversight committee of "war profiteering" and vastly
overbilling the Defense Department for fuel deliveries in Iraq.

"I have no idea what those charges are. We had to give back, as you
know, some of the contributions that he raised,'' McCain said, referring
to $50,000 in campaign contributions bundled by Sargeant. Questions were
raised in August about whether the money came from people in California
who were later reimbursed.

"I don't know anything about those charges so I can't make a comment on
any of that,'' McCain said of the latest allegations, strongly denied by
Sargeant. "I don't know what they're talking about. But I'll get back to
you if you like."

The full McCain interview airs Sunday on Bay News 9's Political
Connections show at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.