MCCAIN TO REVEAL MEDICAL RECORDS

WASHINGTON — On last weekend's season finale of "Saturday Night Live," Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, asked and answered a question with mock solemnity.

"What should we be looking for in our next president?" McCain asked. "Certainly somebody who is very, very, very old."

Today, the McCain campaign will release summaries of the senator's medical records in an effort to calm whatever public concern there is that the 71-year-old candidate might not be healthy enough to take on the high-stress job of president in 2009.

His doctors will spend 90 minutes answering questions from reporters during a conference call, and a small pool of reporters in Phoenix will be allowed to examine the documents firsthand.

If he wins the general election, McCain would be the oldest person in the nation's history elected to a first term as president.

Campaign manager Rick Davis said reporters looking for an exciting story "are going to be woefully disappointed," adding, "He defies all the rules of aging."

Still, public opinion polls show that McCain's age and health are a factor in voters' decision-making. Voters are far more comfortable electing an African-American or a woman president than someone who would enter office at the age of 72.

According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 66 percent of voters surveyed were "entirely comfortable" electing an African American as president, 62 percent felt the same way about electing a woman president, but just 31 percent felt as comfortable with someone entering office at McCain's age.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres said that while McCain's age may be a factor, voters will be able to assess him for themselves.

"It's very clear that John McCain is a very healthy, vigorous man," Ayres said. "People are ultimately going to judge him on his health and his vigor rather than his chronological age."

OBAMA PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Barack Obama yesterday promised an "unshakable commitment" to Israel if he is elected president.

Speaking a town hall meeting at a synagogue, the Illinois senator also said he hopes his presidency will help improve strained relations between American black and Jewish communities. Obama could become the first black president.

Some Jewish voters are turned off by his willingness to negotiate with countries like Iran and Syria. Others reject Obama because of e-mails spreading false rumors about him.

Obama stressed that he wouldn't negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

OBAMA, MCCAIN SPAR ON GI BILL

UNION CITY, Calif. — Republican John McCain said yesterday that Democrat Barack Obama had no right to criticize McCain's position on military scholarships because the Illinois senator did not serve in uniform.

"And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," the Arizona senator said in a harshly worded statement issued yesterday.

McCain lashed out at Obama's personal history despite Obama's repeated praise of McCain's military service. As Obama said Tuesday night in Des Moines, Iowa: "We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero, and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party."

McCain was a Navy fighter pilot who was shot down and spent nearly six years as a Vietnam prisoner of war.

At age 46, Obama is too young to have been drafted or fought in Vietnam. The direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War officially ended in 1973, the same year the military draft was ended and replaced by an all-volunteer military.

MCCAIN REJECTS PASTOR'S NOD

UNION CITY, Calif. — Republican John McCain has rejected the endorsement of an influential Texas televangelist criticized for his anti-Catholic views.

John Hagee, the Texas preacher, withdrew his endorsement at the same time.

McCain issued a statement after audio surfaced in which Hagee said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.

McCain said in a statement: "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."

Hagee also issued a statement saying he was tired of baseless attacks and he was removing himself from any active role in the 2008 campaign.