MCCAIN TO DISCUSS WIFE'S ADDICTION

By The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) -- GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain and his wife
Cindy are going on national television this weekend to discuss her past
addiction to painkillers.

McCain acknowledges in a Dateline NBC interview with Jane Pauley that he
missed warning signs of his wife's 1989-1992 addiction to prescription
drugs while he was in the midst of his own scandal in Washington.

``I should've understood,'' McCain said. ``I should've detected this
earlier on. Clearly there were signs ... I'd call almost every day and
sometimes she would sound a little bleary and unconnected and I would think
she's just tired or sleepy.''

McCain, in the interview to be broadcast Sunday, said he still feels
partially responsible. ``And maybe I was wrapped up too much in Washington
and my ambitions to pay as much attention as I should have.''

While the story of Mrs. McCain's addiction has been widely reported in
Arizona, the lawmaker's home state, it has not been the subject of much
national attention.

The McCains decided to address the issue now, rather than wait for his
political opponents to bring it up.

Mrs. McCain said she got the prescription pain medicines through a charity
she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. A doctor wrote
prescriptions at her direction for medical missions worldwide, and she
sometimes doubled the amount of medication needed, keeping some for her own
use.

In the Pauley interview, Mrs. McCain said she hid her addiction from
everyone, including her husband.

She also said she did not deprive people who needed the drugs.

``I took a good portion of them, but I didn't take all of them,'' Mrs.
McCain said. ``I have done good things and the best thing I've done is go
into recovery and stay drug-free.''

During the time of Mrs. McCain's addiction, her husband and four other
senators were being investigated for interceding with a federal regulator
on behalf of savings and loan figure Charles Keating.

Keating eventually was convicted of fraud in California and federal courts
for bilking investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Those
convictions have since been overturned.

McCain received a mild rebuke from the Senate Ethics Committee for
exercising poor judgment in the Keating affair.