AMPTON, N.H. - Though he campaigned as a ''proud conservative Republican'' along the New Hampshire seacoast yesterday, Senator John McCain departed again from his party's mainstream by empathizing with the plight of American Indians.
It is an issue that McCain embraced early in his congressional career when he took up Indian causes that other Republicans ignored, and McCain said he regretted that he was rarely asked about the issue as a presidential candidate.
His chance to discuss Indian affairs came in response to a question at a Hampton town meeting. McCain responded by calling the treatment of Indians ''one of the darker chapters of the American people.''
He described a Lakota (Sioux) reservation in South Dakota ''where people live in the worst conditions of grinding poverty.'' McCain criticized some of the tribes for imposing their own rigid bureaucratic rules, ''stifling free enterprise'' on the reservations. In some cases, entrepreneurs are forced to wait two or three years to start businesses, he said.
Traveling in his campaign bus, McCain was asked to elaborate on his interest in Indian issues. He described a lonely battle in the ranks of congressional Republicans.
When he arrived in Congress in 1983, McCain said, he was recruited for a Republican slot on an Indian affairs subcommittee by Representative Morris K. Udall, the Democratic chairman of the House Interior Committee.
''The only way I got it was that nobody else wanted it,'' McCain said. ''When I talked to a lot of Republicans'' about taking the Indian affairs post ''they said: `They don't vote and when they vote, they vote for Democrats. Don't get involved.'''
McCain said he was persuaded to take the job after an ''eloquent speech'' by Udall, a fellow Arizonan who made great strides to support Indian causes. Though a Democrat, Udall became one of McCain's mentors.
After taking the position, McCain said, he was approached by another Democrat, Representative Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut, on behalf of ''this little tribe up in Connecticut that had been having trouble getting recognized.''
McCain said he looked into the case and discovered ''the Republicans had been the ones blocking it.'' He determined that the Indians' plea was legitimate and won recognition for the tribe.
''Know which tribe?'' McCain asked, then answered his own question. ''The Pequot, now the proud owners of the largest casino in the world.''
McCain's work on behalf of a cause unpopular among Republicans was praised yesterday by Bob Neuman, a former spokesman for the Democratic National Committee and longtime aide to Udall, who died in 1998. ''John McCain has been absolutely spectacular on Indian issues,'' Neuman said.
While discussing his break with Republican doctrine, McCain had kind words for Bill Bradley - considered something of a renegade among the Senate Democrats. ''From time to time Bradley took on issues that didn't make him popular. For example, he was an Eastern senator who got involved on water issues in the West, on some land issues, on issues where some of his colleagues said: `This guy ought to stay out of it, it's my state.'''
