Wed, April 23, 2008 - 4:39 PM

WASHINGTON—In Washington, politics never delay votes on key pieces of legislation, right?

Um, no. It happens pretty much every day, usually dozens of times a day. It’s the way this town works.

So, it was much more of the same Wednesday when Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., condemned Senate Democratic leaders for delaying by a few hours a vote on a key piece of veterans’ legislation.

The reason for the delay: politics, of course, this time of the presidential variety.

A day after the Pennsylvania primary, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were out campaigning hard Wednesday, and not expected to return to Washington until late in the afternoon. They face tough primaries in Indiana and North Carolina early next month.

So, Senate Democrats decided not to open the Senate until late Wednesday afternoon, so the candidates could return to town to vote.

“I objected to that,” Burr said. “I objected because I didn't think we needed to accommodate presidential candidates just to accommodate their schedule.”

“If that's the way the majority determines that they want to run the United States Senate, I'm confident the American people will seek a change in who runs the United States Senate,” he added.

One wonders whether Burr would have expressed as much outrage at the delay were his chosen candidate, Sen. John McCain, still locked in a tight race and the Senate delayed opening a few hours to accommodate him.

--Sean Mussenden

Sen. John McCain asked the North Carolina Republican Party not to run a television ad that attacks Sen. Barack Obama, but state party leaders plan to show it anyway.

The ad, which is scheduled to begin airing Monday, shows a photo of Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright alongside a clip of Wright's infamous "God Damn America" sermon. The voiceover says Obama is "too extreme for North Carolina."

Obama has denounced Wright's inflammatory comments.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman Linda Daves appears at the end of the ad, saying the ad is meant to target Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Bev Perdue, who have endorsed Obama.

The North Carolina primary election is May 6.

Campaigning in Kentucky, McCain told reporters he was e-mailing the N.C. GOP to ask them to stop running the ad.

"There's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it," McCain said.



- Mark Young