This morning I sat in on a conference call that Senator McCain held with bloggers. Here's a short writeup of some of the highlights.

On his visit to Inez Kentucky yesterday, Senator McCain pointed out that this was where President Lyndon B. Johnson declared "the war on poverty" back some 40 years ago. He told bloggers that a lesson we should learn is that local government is more effective that large bureaucracies working in Washington DC.

On yesterdays walk through in New Orleans 9th ward, Senator McCain wants the American people to know that they deserve a better response to disasters such as Katrina.

Regarding the economy, Senator McCain wanted to make the point that if you believe in higher taxes, he is not your guy. Spending in Washington is out of control and we need to stop it. He pointed to some 12,000 earmarks that have cost the American taxpayers over $42 billions dollars.

Senator McCain believes that economic growth increases revenue. He raised the issue of capital gains and how Obama wants to increase the capital gains tax, despite the evidence going back over 40 years to President Kennedy that lowering the capital gains tax results in increased revenue. Senator Mccain believes that anyone who pushes for an increase on such taxes, does not understand the fundamentals of economics.

On his support of the Gas Tax Holiday, Senator McCain said that we need to give Americans a break this summer and that the tax holiday would save motorists 18 cents a gallon on gas and 24 cents a gallon on diesel.

Senator McCain was asked about Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers and if Obama is obligated to talk about him. Mccain called Ayers a "Unrepentant Terrorist," and pointed out that Ayers group "the Weather Underground" was responsible for the deaths of some folks.

Regarding the North Carolina ad, McCain responded that the ad was not the tenor of the campaign that he wanted to raise. He instead wants it to be about the differences between he and Obama in areas such as national security and the economy.

On Iraq, Senator McCain told bloggers that he was "rather pleased" with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi army's taking control of Basra. He said it has been a "pleasant turn of events."

Regarding Barack Obama being the choice of Hamas over McCain, the Senator replied that he would be "Hamas worst nightmare" and that he would naturally not want them supporting him. He believes that Senator Obama is sending "incorrect signals to Hamas" like how he would be willing to sit down with folks like Iranian leader Ahmadinejad.

Today Senator McCain will be heading out to Little Rock Arkansas where he will be joined by former governor Mike Huckabee. I'm sure we will have more info on that today here on Blogs For John McCain.