McCain tells Utahns he backs nuclear storage
Huntsman calls the senator 'Western' before the remark
Huntsman, along with most elected officials and voters in the West, opposes the proposed Yucca Mountain facility, citing concerns about radioactive waste being transported through Utah and other states on its way to the site.
But McCain mocked a question about the dangers of transporting nuclear waste while speaking with Utah reporters.
"Oh, you have to travel through states ... I am for Yucca Mountain. I'm for storage facilities. It's a lot better than sitting outside power plants all over America," he said, then added, "I don't mean to be sarcastic. I apologize. But I believe we can transport waste safely."
McCain said other countries including France have shown nuclear power can be generated "safely, economically and their greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced. I worry a lot more about climate change than I do about transporting nuclear waste."
Huntsman introduced McCain at the mid-morning press conference held at the Grand America Hotel as the "quintessentially Western candidate ... he understands our issues and our values and that's very, very important."
Huntsman is supporting McCain's presidential bid despite the popularity in Utah of another GOP candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who headed the successful 2002 Winter Olympics and is a Mormon like the majority of the state's residents.
Utah's governor said McCain "has an unparalleled world view ... he understands how to put the pieces back together again." Still, Huntsman said, within the next year, "we're all going to get around whoever the Republican nominee is."
McCain's overnight visit came just over a week after Romney raised more than $1 million in Salt Lake City and St. George. The current frontrunner for the Republican nomination, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is expected in the state soon.
Huntsman said the visits are a result of Utah's participation in the Western-states primary set for Feb. 5, 2008. Utah is participating at a cost of some $3.5 million, in the hopes of attracting campaign spending and candidate attention.
McCain called Utah "a battleground state among Republicans" but said he didn't like so many early primaries. Spacing out the contests gives the public more time to consider the candidates, he said, adding that now, "it's pretty much over by the beginning of February."
Huntsman was scheduled to appear with McCain Friday evening at a major fund-raiser in the Phoenix Convention Center that costs as much as $2,300 a person to attend.
McCain arrived in Utah Thursday morning and spent time with Huntsman before attending a fund-raiser at a private Federal Heights home where he raised more than $150,000.
Thursday evening, McCain headed to Deer Valley to address a group of executives from JPMorgan Chase, a global financial services firm. McCain held private meetings with a number of local supporters, reportedly collecting additional contributions.
The senator responded to recent reports that some of his supporters have made anonymous, critical comments about Romney's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, calling such actions "despicable."
McCain said if that was indeed happening, he wanted to know who was responsible. "I would immediately condemn them. I would immediately make sure they had nothing to do with my campaign. It's disgraceful and dishonorable," he said.
Asked if he were trying to appeal to Mormon voters, McCain said he was trying to appeal to everybody "but not on the basis of religion, but on the basis of how I can best give them and their children a better future."
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