05/13/2008

By JULIA SILVERMAN  / Associated Press

For most of this year, when Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has appeared on the campaign trail, he's been by the side of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, his fellow Democrat and candidate of choice.

On Monday, though, Kulongoski was on stage at Vestas Wind Technology plant in Portland next to a beaming John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

The Arizona senator was in town to deliver a speech on combating global warming at Vestas, a Danish wind turbine manufacturing company that Kulongoski is trying to persuade to expand in Oregon.

Anna Richter-Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kulongoski, said the governor attended to show his support for Vestas, and on behalf of "the economic interests of the state."

She said his appearance with McCain no way undermined the governor's still-firm allegiance to Clinton, who in recent days has faced calls to drop out of the Democratic race, as her path to winning her party's nomination seemingly gets narrower.

Kulongoski kept his remarks brief, and stuck to introducing Jens Soby, president of Vestas Americas.

McCain praised Kulongoski, saying he had "served as a great governor of this state." He promised that if elected, he would speak often with Kulongoski and other governors, regardless of their party affiliation.

Later in the day, the two met privately at McCain's hotel for what Richter-Taylor described as a 20 minute "meet and greet." The two had not met before, she said, and McCain had requested the meeting to learn more about Oregon issues.

"It was an opportunity for the governor to convey some of his concerns about policies affecting Oregon, like the county payments program, renewable energy tax credits and health care," she said.

Richter-Taylor said Kulongoski was not scheduled to attend a Monday evening forum on health care at the same hotel that is being sponsored by the AFL-CIO, one of Oregon's largest unions.