Tampa, FL– Getting more Americans health insurance and rebuilding the ailing U.S. health care system is about giving more power to the individual, Sen. John McCain declared Tuesday.

“The key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves,” he said in a speech at the University of South Florida–as he touted the power of the free market as the solution to the problem of nearly 47 million uninsured Americans. “Families should only pay for getting the right care: care that is intended to improve and safeguard their health….Americans need new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage. Americans want a system built so that wherever you go and wherever you work, your health plan goes with you.”

Flanked on stage by nearly 50 medical professionals, many in white doctor’s coats, McCain restated a number of aspects of the plan he initially laid out last fall–albeit with some new details–which at it’s heart offers a tax credit ($5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals) for health insurance. The goal he says is to offer an alternative to employer-based coverage (as he will eliminate the current tax exclusion for people who receive coverage through work) and create an open market that will require insurance companies to compete for customers. The speech came in conjunction with a new health care ad (see above) set to air in the key swing state of Iowa.

McCain took a few shots at his Democratic rivals’ plans, which offer universal or near-universal coverage, arguing that they “will replace the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of the current system with the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of a government monopoly.” McCain also called on both Sens. Obama and Clinton to support medical liability reform if they are “sincere” about putting “the needs of patients before the demands of trial lawyers.”

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The candidate herself seems just fine… but this Hillary balloon doll could blow up any second. Senator Clinton brought the mini-HRC to the back of her press plane as we departed North Carolina — and sat it down by one of the staffers just to make sure he didn’t miss her when she went back up front.

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RALEIGH, North Carolina — Hillary Clinton’s long odds in the Tar Heel state got a little shorter today, as she picked up the endorsement of popular North Carolina governor Mike Easley. A former Edwards supporter, the two-term executive was swayed by Clinton’s focus on issues he’s been passionate about – including education and innovation.

In announcing his endorsement, Easley said he was also drawn to her strength and experience. “There’s nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman, so I’ve been in hog heaven today,” he said. “This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy.”

Easley told the small crowd gathered at North Carolina State University that he was looking for a candidate who could turn the country around immediately – and took a jab at North Carolina frontrunner Barack Obama in the process. “There is a lot of yes we can and yes we should going around. Hillary Clinton is ready to deliver,” he said. That’s the difference. She’s ready to deliver today. Immediately.”

While the campaign has downplayed expectations in the state, Senator Clinton has spent a considerable amount of time here – targeting military families with a series of events featuring North Carolina native and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Hugh Shelton, working class families concerned about the economy, and women with an event at Wake Forest University with Maya Angelou.

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Barack Obama continued to rail against John McCain’s proposed gas tax holiday, which just yesterday he called a “scheme.” Today in Wilson, NC, he brought in Hillary Clinton to his riff, saying, “they both, I think, are saying the same thing.”

“Let me explain to you that the gas tax is what pays for our highway trust fund to rebuild our roads and our bridges. If we don’t have that money then roads and bridges wont be repaired, which means folks in North Carolina won’t be working this summer,” he explained [Hillary Clinton has maintained her plan is revenue neutral, and would be paid for by windfall profits from oil companies].

“But not only that, you know how much you’d save under John McCain’s plan? $25. Maybe 30. 25 or $30. That’s his plan to help folks dealing with gas prices,” he said. The federal gas tax is about $.18.4 per gallon, so if you fill up a 15-gallon tank twice a week each of the 12 weeks of summer, the grand total would come out to about $66 - a little more than Obama’s projection.

But Obama says the problem shouldn’t be tackled with a short term fix. “This is typical of what Washington does. You got an emergency, people are getting crushed. People are having a tough time, and instead of really trying to solve the problem you use a gimmick,” he said.

“Where’s John McCain been for the last 25 years?” Obama asked. “What has he been doing to promote clean energy and to increase fuel efficiency standards, to develop alternative energies like bio diesel that could put people back to work?”

The McCain campaign was quick with a response tonight, pointing out that Obama himself supported a similar gas tax relief measure in the Illinois state senate in 2000, and that although he says he’d stand up to oil execs, he voted for the 2005 Energy Bill on several occasions. “Unprepared leadership makes promises and fails to deliver,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Obama has admitted in the past that under his administration, gas prices would not be reduced overnight.

On a noisy, windy tarmac in Wilmington, North Carolina, Barack Obama took a few minutes to address his traveling press corps - despite running more than an hour behind schedule. “I wanted to make sure that I made myself available for you guys briefly. We’re running about an hour late, but obviously since Reverend Wright had his Press Club event today, I assume you guys wanted a response or a reaction of some sort,” he said, standing in front of his campaign plane, jets noisily running.

“Yeah,” someone in the gaggle responded.

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“I have said before and I will repeat again that what some of the comments that Reverend Wright have made offend me, and I understand why they’ve offended the American people. He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the campaign, and so he may make statements in the future that don’t reflect my values or concerns,” he said. Instead, Obama said his intention was to focus on the issues important to the American people along the campaign trail.

In the middle of his response, a helicopter rudely landed nearby, causing the senator to pause and smile. “Alright anyway, so I’m gonna take three questions and then we gotta go,” he declared.

When asked if he felt betrayed by his former pastor, Obama laughed. “What the last 3 days indicate is that we’re not coordinating with him. He’s obviously free to speak his mind,” he observed.

How will he handle the Wright issue going forward? Obama noted that most of the voters he’s met along the campaign trail have not been asking him about Reverend Wright, but about issues like the economy, gas prices, and health care. Since the Wright scandal, only a few questioners have asked Obama about his former pastor out of hundreds of questions fielded - not including those from reporters, of course.

“I think people will understand that I am not perfect and that, you know, there are gonna be, you know, folks in my past like Reverend Wright that may cause them some concern but that ultimately, you know, my 20 years of service and the values that I’ve written about and spoken about and promoted are their values, and what they’re concerned about and that’s what this campaign has been about and what it’s going to continue to be about,” he said.

Republican National Committee Spokesman Danny Diaz releases the following statement regarding the latest state GOP ad to invoke Jeremiah Wright.

“Voters in the 1st District of Mississippi will make a determination on the ad,” Diaz said, referring to the latest attack ad by Republican Greg Davis against Democratic opponent Travis Childers in a Mississippi Congressional runoff.

Sen. McCain said earlier today that he is tired of playing “referee” in all of these state GOP ad disputes. Last week, the RNC and McCain were very aggressive in condemning a North Carolina GOP ad using Wright, but this week they are leaving it to the voters. This should appease some voices on the right…

Most candidates are tight-lipped about whom they are considering to be their running mates – especially if they haven’t locked down their party’s nomination as Barack Obama has yet to do. But today in Wilmington, North Carolina, in front of 5,000 voters and a slew of media, Barack Obama asked, “Will you be my running mate?”

The crowd erupted in applause when 82-year-old Wilmington resident Jean Weiss ran up the aisle to hug Obama after she asked him a question about the world’s water crisis.

So how does one get on the Obama ticket?

First, the potential veep has to be loyal the candidate. “You captured my heart and I said that’s the man for me from here on out,” Weiss exclaimed when she got a hold of the microphone. “I like that!” Obama responded with a smile.

Second, a running mate must be able to defend certain policies of the candidate – even if they are controversial. “When you said, ‘Yes I will sit down with all my enemies, we’re gonna sit around the table, we’re gonna work this thing out, sensible people, and not where we just go around shoot everybody up who we don’t agree with,’ – sir, that was not naiveté that was wisdom. Wisdom!” she said with authority.

“You got the biggest cheer in the room!” Obama noted when the crowd gave her a rousing applause. Which is the third characteristic – an ability to rally the troops.

Fourth – one must bring experience to the table and be able to offer the candidate a little friendly advice. “Don’t hit on Hillary, bring us all back, let her do that stuff. Leave her alone, you don’t need to do that, you are higher than that. Bring us up higher than that,” Weiss said with 82 years of experience.

And the final quality that shouldn’t be overlooked – the candidate must like his veep in return. “She got me fired up!” Obama said with affection after the two embraced.

With all these boxes checked, an Obama-Weiss ticket looks like a match made in heaven.

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Miami, FL — Sen. McCain said Monday that he refuses to play “referee” as state and local Republicans continue to use the Jeremiah Wright issue in their races across the country.

“I am not going to be a referee. I have made my position very clear on this issue. And that I do not believe that Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extremist statements or views,” McCain said a media availability after a health care round table. “I’ll make my position very clear and then I’ll run my campaign on health care challenges, on all of the great challenges we face, including the economic difficulties we are facing today, the challenges of a recession and providing available and affordable health care to all Americans.”

The latest controversy comes out of a local Mississippi congressional runoff race, where Republican Greg Davis is hitting his Democratic opponent Travis Childers with a new ad invoking Wright. (video above)

“When Obama’s pastor cursed America, blaming us for 9/11, Childers said nothing,” the ad blares. “He took Obama’s endorsement over our conservative values. Conservatives just can’t trust Travis Childers.”

The newest ad comes less than a week after the North Carolina Republican Party announced that it intends to release a spot using controversial Wright statements in order to attack Democratic candidates in the state. McCain repeatedly repudiated the ad last week, but the state party still intends to air the ad this week.

While McCain again quoted Obama’s comments yesterday, in which the Illinois Democrat essentially gave opponents a green light to use Wright matter by declaring it a “legitimate political issue,” McCain said Monday that he will leave the controversy to “a dialogue between Senator Obama and the American people.”

“I am of the belief that Senator Obama does not reflect the extremist statements that Reverend Wright has given…but I also understand why millions of Americans may, as Senator Obama said yesterday, view this as a political issue,” McCain said.

UPDATE–Sen. Hillary Clinton says McCain should be doing more…..

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GRAHAM, NC — Hillary Clinton says John McCain’s letter to North Carolina Republicans asking them to pull an ad featuring controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright didn’t go far enough to get the ads off the airwaves.

In the Tar Heel state, the GOP is attacking Lt Gov Beverly Eaves Perdue and Treasurer Richard Moore for endorsing Barack Obama — using a long segment of one of the more inflammatory speeches by Obama’s former reverend to paint the two local Democrats with the same anti-American brush. And in Mississippi, a congressional candidate has a similar ad attacking his Democratic opponent using Wright and Obama.

McCain wrote to the North Carolina party urging them to remove the ad from the air, but the party refused.

Senator Clinton told reporters today that McCain needs to go further. “I believe that if Senator McCain were serious, he would do more than send a letter,” she said. “He is the putative nominee. I think he could very clearly tell the North Carolina party, tell the Mississippi party that he would not tolearte these kinds of advertisements, and I’m waiting to see whether he does that.”

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WILMINGTON, NC — Senator Hillary Clinton said she’d be willing to temporarily lift the federal tax on gasoline to ease prices at the pump — but only if the money could be made up elsewhere.

“I think we should look seriously at having a gas tax holiday as long as we can make up the lost revenues for the highway trust fund,” she said. “I think we can do that if we put a temporary windfall profits tax on the oil companies. We could actually take the cost off the drivers.”

Clinton joins what’s become a heated back and forth between John McCain, who supports the tax holiday, and her Democratic rival Barack Obama, who opposes it and calls it “one of John McCain’s latest schemes.” The RNC says Obama has flip flopped on the issue since leaving the Illinois State Senate, where the state gasoline tax was temporarily suspended in 2000 with Obama’s support.

Clinton aides say she differs from McCain in that she’d pay for her tax break, “not raid the highway trust fund.” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds argues that the Arizona Senator’s plan “would have no effect on the existing Highway Trust Fund or transportation infrastructure,” saying “the expense would be covered from general federal revenues that would be offset by a substantial trimming of  wasteful government spending.”

She’s expected to take on Obama on the gas tax holiday at her first event in Graham, NC on Monday.