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Memphis, TN — Sen. John McCain may face questions about his civil rights record as he visits Memphis Friday to participate in a number of events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination.

Scheduled to address the Southern Christian Leadership Conference–which King headed up for more than a decade–as well as lay a wreath at the National Civil Rights Museum, McCain’s initial opposition to a holiday commemorating the slain civil rights leader could be among the issues that come up during his trip.

In his first year in the U.S. House, McCain voted with the minority and opposed the 1983 law creating the national holiday to honor King, but reversed his decision around 1990 after he says he “learned” more about King’s achievements. As he fought for an Arizona state ballot measure to recognize MLK Day in 1990, McCain successfully pushed former President Reagan to endorse the referendum.

McCain has said on a number of occasions that he regrets his original 1983 vote and told reporters this week that he is “very proud” of his record of support for King.

“I voted in my…first year in Congress against it and then I began to learn and I studied and people talked to me. And I not only supported it but I fought very hard in my home state of Arizona for recognition against a governor who was of my own party,” McCain said during a media availability aboard his plane Monday (video above). “I had not been involved in the issue. I had come from being in the military to running for Congress in a state that did not have a very large African American population and it had not been in issue. It just simply had not been.”

In a February 2000 interview with ABC News, McCain said his initial opposition to a holiday was based on his belief that “it was not necessary to have another federal holiday, that it cost too much money, that other presidents were not recognized.”

Asked on Monday why he shifted his position and later supported a state measure creating a holiday, McCain told reporters that he “learned (that King) was a transcendent figure in American history. He deserved to be honored and that I thought it was appropriate to do so.”

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Page Springs, AZ — Clasping medal tongs, Sen. John McCain made a policy statement of a different sort Sunday, as he held court in front of his two gas grills.

“The best baby back ribs in America can be found at Costco,” he told a group of greasy fingered journalists that had gathered around him.

A barbeque for his traveling press corps at the Arizona Senator’s vacation home outside Sedona Sunday afternoon capped off a weekend of socializing for McCain. He hosted a group of about a dozen senators and governors (see names at end)–who had served as close allies throughout the primary–at cabins on his property Friday and Saturday. Aides noted that no formal business was on the agenda for the group of elected officials, though one McCain aide lamented that they “kept talking politics.”

The media affair was sold as an on-the-record but social gathering –no cameras or tape recorders allowed– and the group of about 30 journalists on hand mostly kept to the rules, talking to the presumptive GOP nominee about lighter topics including gardening, cooking and his recommended vacation spots (Costa Rica is very high up on his list). Though at one point, McCain had to remind one journalist who pulled out a tape recorder that he didn’t plan to talk business today.

Less politics, more food was the message and like any good host, McCain ensured that any empty hands around him were quickly filled with a rib fresh off the grill.

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