OLUMBIA, S.C. - Having chosen to forgo its primary, Senator John S. McCain didn't have to stump for votes in Delaware yesterday.
Instead, he took advantage of his morning alone in South Carolina to deliver a speech on his crime policies to students at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. McCain lambasted the Clinton administration for what he said was its abdication of its responsibilities in the war on drugs, and he called for a national program in which veterans would mentor troubled teenagers.
''Crime is not a price we pay for freedom,'' McCain said. ''It is freedom's enemy. And, as president, I will fight that enemy with every fiber of my being.''
McCain continued to fight a different kind of war yesterday, with Texas Governor George W. Bush. The two have been wrangling for days, via surrogates and in television advertisements, over whose tax policy is better for the nation, who was more like President Bill Clinton, and who went negative first.
But that battle was not in evidence at the academy, where a few hundred brown-uniformed students sat politely for McCain's prepared speech, which he delivered without opening jokes or closing questions, which made it a rare occasion for McCain.
In his speech, McCain pledged to provide police forces with more resources and personnel. He proposed that most assets seized in federal arrests be kept in crime- and drug-plagued communities to aid them with prevention efforts. He urged a strong, uniform ratings system for all kinds of entertainment be introduced to help parents keep their children away from violent content. And he said, as he often has, that computers in public libraries should be strictly controlled to prevent children from accessing violent or pornographic Web sites.
But he reserved most of his remarks for the war on drugs, from which, he said, ''the Clinton administration has been AWOL.''
''The bully pulpit is vacant,'' McCain said. ''The Oval office is merely an echo chamber when it comes to the drug issue. What does it say to brave American heroes working to protect our kids from drug pushers when the vice president responds to the question of whether he inhaled by saying `as deeply as I could?'''
McCain was apparently referring to allegations in a new book that Gore smoked marijuana regularly after returning from the Vietnam War. Gore has said he used marijuana sparingly.
McCain called for a redoubled commitment to Nancy Reagan's ''Just Say No'' campaign, a reassessment of the drug budget to focus attention on rural areas, where he said the problems of crime and addiction had been neglected, and he stressed the importance of treatment programs for nonviolent, first-time drug offenders.
Most significantly, McCain proposed that part of his war on drugs be fought by veterans, ''a great and untapped national resource.'' He proposed that they become part of a national program to mentor troubled teenagers, and teach them ''discipline, civic responsibility, integrity, and character.''
