US:JOHN MCCAIN, the Republican candidate for the presidency, is clear of the skin cancer that has struck him three times, has a strong heart, and is otherwise in good health, according to eight years of medical records released yesterday.
Mr McCain, who turns 72 in August, would be the oldest US president elected to a first term, but Mayo Clinic physician John Eckstein said the Republican's performance on a heart stress test was better than many men half his age.
"I think physiologically he is considerably younger than his chronologic age based on his cardiovascular fitness. I got a call from the cardiologist who said that he had not seen anyone that age exercise for that long in a long time," Dr Eckstein said.
The records showed that Mr McCain had chronic shoulder pain and moderate pain of the right knee from injuries he received when he was shot down as a Navy pilot and spent 5½ years in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp.
Also, he has had some common health problems, including benign colon polyps that were removed and kidney stones. Major surgery on his face in 2000 removed a melanoma.
Mr McCain released more than 1,000 pages of medical records at the end of a difficult week for his campaign, which has been rocked by resignations over lobbying ties and controversy over two pastors who endorsed the Republican candidate.
On Thursday, Mr McCain rejected the endorsement of John Hagee, after it emerged that the evangelical pastor had suggested in a sermon during the 1990s that God allowed Hitler to proceed with the Holocaust so that Jews would return to Israel.
Describing the remarks as "deeply offensive and indefensible", Mr McCain said he had no knowledge of them when he accepted Rev Hagee's endorsement a few months ago.
Mr McCain insisted, however, that there was no comparison between his relationship with Rev Hagee and that between Barack Obama and his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
"I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Rev Wright's extreme views. But let me also be clear, Rev Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for 20 years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today," Mr McCain said.
A few hours after denouncing Rev Hagee, Mr McCain rejected the endorsement of a second pastor, Rob Parsley, who has called Islam "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil", and an "anti-Christ religion that intends through violence to conquer the world".
Earlier, Mr Obama and Mr McCain had their sharpest exchange yet when the Democrat criticised the Arizona senator's opposition to a Bill that would increase benefits for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the president in his opposition to this GI Bill," Mr Obama said during a Senate debate on the measure.
"I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him and the president more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing, but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them."
Mr McCain shot back, accusing Mr Obama of exploiting a reasonable difference of opinion to promote his own political ambitions and of impugning the Republican's motives.
"It is typical, but no less offensive, that Senator Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent . . . he has less than zero understanding of," Mr McCain said.
"I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. 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."
Mr Obama's campaign rejected Mr McCain's comment as a personal attack, pointing out that the Republican had defended US president George Bush and others in the administration from suggestions that their lack of military service disqualified them from commenting on military affairs.
Mr Obama was in Miami yesterday to reassure Cuban-Americans that his promise to hold direct talks with Fidel Castro did not imply a lack of commitment to promoting democracy on the island.
He dismissed Mr McCain's criticism of his position on Cuba as nothing more than empty rhetoric.
"Every four years, they come down to Miami, they talk tough, they go back to Washington, and nothing changes in Cuba. That's what John McCain did the other day. He joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade," Mr Obama said.