MCCAIN MORTGAGE PLAN IRKS CONSERVATIVES, DEMOCRATS

Senator McCain’s new proposal for federal guarantees for some house loans tangled up in the subprime mortgage mess immediately came under attack from conservatives, who said the Arizona senator had abandoned free-market principles, and from his possible Democratic opponents, senators Clinton and Obama, who said it was too little, too late.

“Maverick schmaverick,” a prominent conservative Web logger, Michelle Malkin, wrote as she criticized Mr. McCain for ignoring his earlier warnings about federal intervention in the economy. “It looks like he’s proposing a warmed over, half-hearted version of the very plan he criticized,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement. Speaking In Gary, Ind., Mr. Obama was a tad more charitable. “Better late than never. … Don’t expect it to actually help struggling families because Senator McCain’s solution to the housing crisis seems a lot like the George Bush solution, which is to sit by,” the Illinois senator said, according to the Washington Post.

MCCAIN, OBAMA: BUSH SHOULD CONSIDER OLYMPIC SNUB

Senators McCain and Obama are moving closer to calling on President Bush to skip the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics because of China’s crackdown in Tibet. “Unless they change something pretty quickly, I would not go to the opening ceremonies,” Mr. McCain said on ABC’s “The View” yesterday. He said Mr. Bush should “keep that option open” as he presses China to act responsibly in Tibet and with the Sudan. “I would say to the Chinese, ‘Look. Clean up your act here. This is not acceptable,'” the senator of Arizona said.

Mr. Obama took a similar stance in a statement late Wednesday. “If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the President should boycott the opening ceremonies,” he said. “A boycott of the opening ceremonies should be firmly on the table, but this decision should be made closer to the Games.”

Senator Clinton endorsed such a snub on Monday, citing both the Tibet and Darfur issues, but Mr. Obama initially gave an equivocal response.

LIBERAL GROUP PLANS $40M AD CAMPAIGN AGAINST MCCAIN

A liberal group formerly known as the Campaign to Defend America has renamed itself Progressive Media USA and is readying what organizers aim to be a $40 million ad campaign to raise doubts about the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator McCain, according to a political news outlet, the Politico. The group is headed by a former conservative writer who now critiques conservative bias in the press, David Brock, who is being aided by a former adviser to President Clinton, Paul Begala. A billionaire financier, George Soros, is one of those bankrolling the effort.

DEMOCRATIC SENATORS: MCCAIN A ‘NATURAL-BORN CITIZEN’

Two Democratic lawmakers, senators Leahy of Vermont and McCaskill of Missouri, are introducing a nonbinding resolution declaring that Senator McCain meets the Constitution’s requirements to seek the presidency even though he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and not in the geographic confines of America.

Claims that Mr. McCain can’t serve as president are “silly,” Ms. McCaskill said yesterday.

HUCKABEE GETS AN AGENT, BUT CONFAB A BUST

A former Arkansas governor who often played electric guitar as he unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination, Michael Huckabee, has signed a contract to be represented by a Hollywood talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, CNN reported.

Mr. Huckabee’s campaign Web site indicates he is planning to launch a new organization April 15. More than 5,000 fans of the former candidate signed up for a conference call last night in which he was to discuss his plans.

However, those who dialed in heard chaos and gibberish for more than half an hour because organizers failed to mute the phone lines. “I want to know how the Huckabee organization made it as far as it did,” one caller said. “Is this a hoax?” another asked through the din.