Georgia crisis triggers war of words on White House trail

[DogPoundPup]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Prominent supporters of White House runners John McCain and Barack Obama clashed Sunday over the crisis in Georgia with a McCain adviser under fire for his links to the government in Tbilisi.

As the Russian military seized control of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the campaign of Democratic hopeful Obama defended its attacks on McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said McCain's campaign "is run by lobbyists that represent Georgia and other countries."

"He takes huge amounts of money from oil companies that are profiting in the (former) Soviet Union and many parts of the world," the Democrat told ABC News, attempting to depict a conflict of interest for McCain.

Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, said the crisis vindicated Obama's pledge to rebuild US alliances in Europe that were strained under President George W. Bush.

"This has been one of the failures of the Bush administration, failing to build a strong relationship, a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia, so we'd have the kind of influence to persuade them to stop some of these very, very dangerous efforts within their territory," he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080810/ts_alt_afp/usvotegeorgiarussiaunrest