ORONO – With just 18 days left before the presidential election, McCain paid a visit Friday to make a case for victory for the Republican Party.

No, not John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate. It was his daughter Meghan McCain who made two local appearances Friday in support of her father and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

“I think that they’re gonna lead the country in the right direction,” said McCain, who is 23. “I think it’s a really scary time for a lot of people, and I think we all need to come together, and I think that my father and Sarah can do that way more than [Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama].”

Meghan McCain met with about 40 college Republicans lunching at Pat’s Pizza’s Tap Room. She signed copies of the children’s book she wrote about her father, shared her belief in the Red Sox’s playoff run, and commented on the fall foliage.

McCain also appeared at Republican headquarters on Broadway in Bangor, and was to travel to Auburn later in the day as part of the party’s push to gain at least one of the state’s four electoral votes. McCain’s visit came one day after Palin appeared at Bangor International Airport.

McCain said she would like Obama to address questions about his alleged relationships with former Weather Underground member William Ayers, and the ACORN community organization that is facing multiple investigations related to fraud over its voter registration efforts.

“I don’t think even I completely understand this ACORN connection and the Bill Ayers connection and I think if there’s a reasonable answer, then fantastic, there’s a reasonable answer,” she said. “But there can also be other answers. I think … coming to the end, everyone has to say what they have to say.”

The mood of McCain’s appearance was light, except for her brief chat with Orono resident Matt Schilmoeller.

The Eastern Maine Community College student shared his struggle with a rare, congenital abnormality, agenesis of the corpus callosum. The disorder involves partial or complete absence of an area of the brain that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.

He teared up a bit as he thanked Meghan McCain for the pledges of support her father and Palin gave for those with disabilities. Palin’s youngest son, Trig, has Down syndrome.

“I figured it was important that I share the difficulties and challenges that a person like me [is] going through,” Schilmoeller said.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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