Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., defended his decision to make an endorsement in the race for president during an interview with Gazette editors on Monday.

Rockefeller said some have criticized him for endorsing Sen. Barack Obama before the West Virginia primary in May.

"But what is the value of not endorsing someone when you have a close race? You can make a difference."

Obama's ability to communicate with people is one of his major assets, Rockefeller said.

"In the past, we [the Democratic Party] have nominated people like Al Gore and John Kerry who knew all the answers to everything and who could not relate to regular people.

"That is the main reason a lot of people voted for Bush. People said, 'I could have a beer with this guy.'

"Obama is simply unflappable. He takes questions carefully and makes you a believer. My whole family is united [behind a candidate] as never before ..."

Rockefeller said Obama will be campaigning in West Virginia a lot during the next five weeks.

Rockefeller said he believes either Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton "would be good presidents for West Virginia."

Rockefeller criticized Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president. "Senator McCain does have a temper. But today, he speaks in a monotone on the campaign trail."

Rockefeller believes McCain has become insensitive to many human issues. "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit.

"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."

Rockefeller, who is running for re-election, also talked about a range of major problems confronting the country.

The two top issues, Rockefeller said, are climate change and health care for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, eye injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Other major issues include the ongoing Iraq war, efforts to counter terrorist groups and the loss of manufacturing jobs at home.

Rockefeller said he will continue to oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, backed by President George Bush, until that agreement includes provisions to stop human rights abuses in Colombia and a "trade adjustment assistance fund" to help U.S. workers losing jobs from imports.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., defended his decision to make an endorsement in the race for president during an interview with Gazette editors on Monday.

Rockefeller said some have criticized him for endorsing Sen. Barack Obama before the West Virginia primary in May.

"But what is the value of not endorsing someone when you have a close race? You can make a difference."

Obama's ability to communicate with people is one of his major assets, Rockefeller said.

"In the past, we [the Democratic Party] have nominated people like Al Gore and John Kerry who knew all the answers to everything and who could not relate to regular people.

"That is the main reason a lot of people voted for Bush. People said, 'I could have a beer with this guy.'

"Obama is simply unflappable. He takes questions carefully and makes you a believer. My whole family is united [behind a candidate] as never before ..."

Rockefeller said Obama will be campaigning in West Virginia a lot during the next five weeks.

Rockefeller said he believes either Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton "would be good presidents for West Virginia."

Rockefeller criticized Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president. "Senator McCain does have a temper. But today, he speaks in a monotone on the campaign trail."

Rockefeller believes McCain has become insensitive to many human issues. "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit.

"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."

Rockefeller, who is running for re-election, also talked about a range of major problems confronting the country.

The two top issues, Rockefeller said, are climate change and health care for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, eye injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Other major issues include the ongoing Iraq war, efforts to counter terrorist groups and the loss of manufacturing jobs at home.

Rockefeller said he will continue to oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, backed by President George Bush, until that agreement includes provisions to stop human rights abuses in Colombia and a "trade adjustment assistance fund" to help U.S. workers losing jobs from imports.

"Bush wants this on fast track," he said. "But I will not support it if there are no trade adjustment provisions."

Rockefeller said West Virginia also benefits from exporting products, which were worth $4 billion last year.

Rockefeller singled out pyridostigmine pills, prescribed to American soldiers during the Gulf War as a supposed antidote against chemical weapons Saddam Hussein did not even have.

"They made solders take these pills every day, pills that made them sick."

Rockefeller said veterans have told him about a variety of negative effects those pills have had on them, such as making it almost impossible to read, hold a job, control rashes or keep their marriages intact.

Rockefeller was skeptical of proposed solutions to national health care problems, such as some proposals for universal health care. A growing federal deficit, he believes, undermines those solutions.

"We are so dead broke," said Rockefeller, who also worries the growing lack of federal funds will threaten the existing Medicare and Medicaid programs.

This year's presidential election is critical to the country's future.

"We have 25 to 30 years to turn this country around. Climate change is going faster and faster. We will not be around in 2050 unless we change."

Rockefeller believes the government should finance research by a group of leading scientists, like those in the Manhattan Project who developed atomic weapons by the end of World War II.

"Government should pay the whole bill, so no private company gets the patents. Scientists can come up with a way to reduce carbon emissions to nothing, to go to zero emissions."

West Virginia, Rockefeller believes, can play a major role in solving those problems, since its coal reserves will last for between 250 and 400 years.

Rockefeller also said the national air traffic control system must be improved.

"Commercial airlines are going broke. But they have to pay 97 percent of the costs of our air traffic control system, while private jets pay only 3 percent. Yet every plane gets the same attention."

Rockefeller also believes the U.S. must change from its current analog air traffic system to a GPS digital system, used by the rest of the world.

To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.