AIRFIELD, Conn. - Senator John McCain, a longtime foe of government pork, said yesterday that he has tried to cut some of the federal funding for the Big Dig in the past but was talked out of it by Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
McCain said the project, plagued by major cost overruns, needs to be thoroughly investigated.
''I have nothing but the greatest respect for Senators Kennedy and Kerry,'' McCain said yesterday on his campaign bus. ''Neither one of them has ever deceived me. I'm sure they are not proud this is happening.''
McCain complimented Kennedy, calling him ''an old warrior who does not quit.''
Asked about Governor Paul Cellucci's efforts to help McCain's Republican rival, George W. Bush, McCain said with a smile, ''Cellucci? Is he another one of those firewalls?'' Governor John Engler of Michigan had said his state was a firewall for Bush to stop McCain, but the senator won the primary there.
