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My decrepit cell phone just kicked me off a McCain campaign blogger conference call. Before I was reduced to the state of nature, McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina argued that the Republican nominee could appeal to Democrats and independents who, Jim Leach-style, put party over country. She said that such independence was consistent with McCain's history of putting country first.

Fiorina contended that female voters could also be won over by McCain. At 52 percent of the electorate, Fiorinia said, "Women aren't a constituency -- they are the majority." She reported knowing both pro-choice and pro-life women who are pro-McCain. She said that women are twice as likely start small businesses and therefore not single-issue voters based on "reproductive rights" (from the pro-choice perspective) or "life" (from the pro-life perspective).

Reaching out to women who supported Hillary, Fiorina said that Clinton had been "treated with some disrespect" by Barack Obama, who did not vet her for the veep nomination or call her when he picked Joe Biden. She said that everything Biden brings to the ticket, so does Hillary.

Fiorina acknowledged that Obama's campaign has been "uplifting" and "inspirational" to many, but dinged him for offering "no specifics" compared to McCain's plans on the economy, energy independence, and other issues.

Responding to a question about the markets, Fiorina said that McCain consulted widely with Wall Street, the Federal Reserve chairman, the treasury secretary, and Nobel prize-winning economists. She said that McCain understood that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could not be allowed to fail in the short term, but that in the longer term "major reform" is "absolutely required," up to and including privatization. What is important, she argued, is the transparency of capital markets.

After that, my phone died and major news was probably broken.

topics:
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Business, Energy