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The McCain campaign tried to recover Friday from a comment by Carly Fiorina, McCain's most visible woman surrogate and a possible vice presidential pick.
Fiorina, the former chief of Hewlett-Packard, left McCain speechless Monday when she seemed to criticize health insurance companies for covering Viagra for men but not covering birth control for women.
"A real, live example, which I've been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice," Fiorina told reporters at a breakfast talk Monday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, adding, "Those women would like a choice."
It was a curious statement from one of McCain's top surrogates, considering the Arizona Republican has voted twice against mandating insurance companies to provide coverage for birth control, once in 2003 and again in 2005. Sen. Barack Obama supports forcing health insurance to include coverage for birth control.
When asked about Fiorina's comments, McCain said Wednesday, "I certainly do not want to discuss that issue."
Appearing speechless, McCain paused for eight seconds before answering, "I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don't recall the vote, I've caste thousands of votes in the Senate, but I will respond to you," he said. "It's a choice -- I hadn't thought much about it but I did hear her [Fiorina's] response, but I hadn't thought much about it."
The McCain campaign argued today that Fiorina was not trying to discuss abortion issues, but was trying to demonstrate that McCain's healthcare plan would allow women to choose between insurance companies that cover issues that concern them.
Attempting to clarify her remarks today on National Public Radio, Fiorina argued she had been responding to a question posed by a reporter about how much choice Americans want in selecting their healthcare plan.
"The reporter basically said people don't want a choice in their health insurance, they just want to be told what their health insurance plan is," Fiorina said today. "And I just reject that. I wasn't trying to make a veiled reference to the issue of pro-life or pro-choice."
Asked where she stands on abortion, Fiorina said, "I personally happen to be pro-life. John McCain has a very long pro-life record and he won't walk away from that record."
Fiorina, who was listed as one of the nation's 30 most powerful women in business by Forbes magazine before she was ousted as chief of HP in 2005, said she believes women who view abortion rights as their single-most important issue won't vote for McCain.
"For those women who are a single-issue voter on the subject of abortion, John McCain won't get their vote, and I accept that," Fiorina said.
The McCain campaign tells ABC News Fiorina's comments did not indicate a reversal of the Arizona senator's opposition to mandates on health insurance companies.
As a proponent of free-market principles, they said McCain is opposed to any legislation mandating health insurance coverage.
"He doesn't support mandates, including any for Viagra," a McCain campaign aide told ABC News.
McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers said Fiorina was trying to explain that under McCain's proposed health insurance plan, he believes there will be more choice in the types of plans women could choose from.
"An example is the choice for women to dump a policy that only covers Viagra for a policy that covers their real needs," Rogers said.
More HERE:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5355748&page=1
