The Swamp: McCain's allies: Oil fears and a Castro tale

Sometimes, supporters say the darnedest things.

Consider the conference call that Sen. John McCain's campaign organized today, corralling three Republican or supportive mayors around Florida to counterbalance coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's tour of the Sunshine State.

First Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg had this to say about off-shore oil drilling, which McCain and President Bush are promoting as an answer to America's oil demands:

""I'm not committed to saying I'm for lifting the moratorium at this point. We have to protect our beaches, obviously that's the No. 1 thing we have to do. But I also believe we have to look at various options ... If Sen. McCain puts it on the table that the state is going to have the ultimate control ... it's something you can at least talk about."

Then former Mayor Dick Greco, a registered Democrat who is supporting McCain, offered this account of his personal meeting with Cuba's Fidel Castro, something that the McCain campaign is certainly not encouraging in its debate with Obama:

In 2002, Greco had gone to Cuba - "something I always wanted to do and some people thought it was the wrong thing to do'' - and he saw oil rigs along a beach there.

"Guess what he said, Castro, before we mentioned it. He said 'I know you saw those oil wells, which looks pretty damn bad on a beach front piece of property.' He said 'I had to do that because we need the fuel.' "

"Now, that's not what we're talking about .. and that's a pity," Greco added. "We must think about all kinds of alternatives to solve our problems This is not a done deal. This is just one of the things they are exploring."