October 11, 2007 1:50 PM

McCain's Blake Street bomb

UPDATE: Rockies 4, McCain 0 -- Sweeeeeeeep!

Sen. John McCain is a man of firm convictions. And that could cost him some votes in Colorado.

Tonight, his home town baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, squares off against the upstart Colorado Rockies in the first game of the National League Championship Series.

But since Colorado is one of the sleeper battlefields in the Republican presidential contest -- a place where former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigned just yesterday -- we thought we'd give McCain a chance to win some Colorado votes by switching his baseball allegiance.

"I think we know who I'm supporting," McCain said.

But we pushed the issue.

BACK ROADS: "So, you're not going to support the Rockies and try to win Colorado?"

MCCAIN: "I've been known to pander, but that's a depth to which I won't sink."

Perhaps Colorado Republicans can discuss this tonight at their baseball-watching parties.

View image Photos by M.E. Sprengelmeyer

There's a serious side to the question about Colorado. So far, the state's Republican contest is being fought most fiercely by Romney and Giuliani, who each have held events in the state and actively courted Centennial State backers.

McCain, who was in Des Moines to unveil a package of proposed health care reforms on Thursday, also answered the tongue-in-cheek Rockies question with jabs directed at both men.

He took a shot at Romney's answer during this week's televised GOP debate that he would consult with White House lawyers before deciding whether he would ever consider attacking Iran without congressional authority.

"It's just a product of inexperience," McCain said. "He's not experienced in national security issues, and that's why we got the answer we did."

And he took a shot at Giuliani, too, for dismissing the idea of giving the president line-item veto authority because past attempts have been ruled unconstitutional.

"He doesn't understand that the only way we're really gonna impose fiscal restraint in the congress is to give the president of the United States a line-item veto," McCain said.