McCain campaign 'sabotaged'

Moments after a news conference in Sacramento today where he urged California to return Arizona’s water (good luck with that), Sen. John McCain left a downtown building to enter a waiting SUV for the trip to a fund-raiser in San Francisco.

Oops!. The SUV's hood was up. The vehicle wouldn't start.

“Sabotage,” McCain muttered after conferring with an apologetic driver Mallory Franklin. Franklin assured McCain that a replacement vehicle would arrive within minutes. But not wanting to be late to his next fund-raiser, McCain hailed a cab.

Like many candidates, McCain had stopped in Sacramento to raise money. About 35 or 40 Sacramento insiders, developers and others showed up to pay at least $500 for breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel, $2,300 for high-end donors.

But unlike many presidential candidates who blow into the state to gather California gold, and duck out without talking with reporters, McCain took time to answer questions on a range of topics from news people, including The Times' Dan Morain. One reporter asked how much money he had raised in the Golden state.

“Not enough,” McCain quipped. “There's still a lot of money in California that I need to get. It's a very rich state. They’ve stolen Arizona’s water. At least they can pass back in some fashion. The best way, the most effective way probably, would be to contribute to my campaign.”

How's that for a self-serving pitch?

Fortunately, the Sacramento stop left the GOP candidate with enough for cab fare, at least to the airport.

--Andrew Malcolm