McCain wants campaign finance vote at start of new Congress

Friday, December 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. John McCain said Friday he wants the Senate to consider his campaign-finance bill before President-elect Bush begins sending his legislative proposals to Congress.

``I believe we have 60 votes,'' the number needed to limit debate on the bill, McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' ``The Early Show.''

``I will insist we bring it up at the earliest and address it,'' McCain said of the measure, which would ban contributions of ``soft money'' in federal campaigns. Such contributions are used to sell an issue rather than directly promote a candidate.

``We can get it done before the Bush legislative agenda comes over. I think that would be in the best interest of the new administration as well as the country,'' he said.

McCain, who lost the Republican presidential nomination to Bush, said centrist lawmakers of both parties will have a significant effect on legislation in the next two years because both houses of Congress are so evenly divided.

The makeup of the ``centrist coalition'' will change depending on the issue, he said. ``It's not as if there's a monolithic group of people in the center. There is a group that want to work together on specific issues that are important to them.''

McCain indicated he does not necessarily view the rise of moderates' influence as rejection of the agenda pushed by conservatives who control Congress. ``There's sort of a move to the center in American politics and so I don't think either the right or left will lose their representation or their voice.''