Medical Device Daily Executive Editor

Reporters and TV people crowd around the candidate, one camera nearly knocking into the head of your valiant journalistic representative from Medical Device Daily.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) moves forward to a table, after about a 45-minute speech, where the minions of the press wait and he fields questions coming from his left side and at the table in front. We re to the right side so have to really speak up to get his attention but he turns our way.

Senator, we have 47 million Americans without health insurance and probably about that many under-insured. Do you have any benchmarks or milestones for when this is going to be corrected?

Am I wrong in thinking that when the words 47 million without health insurance come out of my mouth, the candidate appears a bit annoyed or maybe very annoyed? Maybe we ve said something naughty?

Mr. McCain was certainly annoyed by a previous question also on a health issue, but indirectly so because he had to prompt the questioner to actually ask a question and draw an end to the speech she was reading from a piece of paper.

It was about the Terri Schiavo case, and the questioner obviously wanted the straight talk guy to take some sort of stand on this we re not sure what and he wouldn t.

The Republican nominee to the U.S. presidency simply said that the case was a tragedy, the questioner then asking him what he meant by tragedy (and surely politicians must get exasperated with being asked to define so many terms. For instance, Bill Clinton wrestling valiantly with is and McCain, at this particular rally, being asked to define victory in Iraq).

But then his answer to MDD s question? . . . well, let s wait a bit on that and provide some context.

Here was the candidate in Georgia, on Friday, appearing at the south Atlanta headquarters of Chick-fil-A (known for its quick-service [not fast food] chicken sandwiches, clever cow commercials and, to football fans, sponsorship of one of the big season-ending bowls).

The venue not unexpectedly featured big American flags and young people primed to ask the first questions. (Surprisingly, the event featuring little security, the can t-miss- em suits on the protection detail not even asking to see our press credentials).

One of the young person s questions was rather unusual, even to the candidate, he acknowledged. It was if the senator would ask Sen. John Kerry (D.-Massachusetts) to be his VP running mate since Kerry, about four years ago, had asked McCain to join him on the ticket as his veep? a story we hadn t heard before.

The answer was a straight no, with the candidate following this up with some jocular healthcare talk.

He said that the vice president of the United States only has two jobs: One, to cast a tie-breaking vote in the House of Representatives, when necessary; the other is to enquire daily as to the health of the president and I m sure that would be a prime duty in my case, he said, referencing his 70-plus years on the planet.

But back to the serious healthcare issues, which he addressed rapidly among many other concerns in his speech (with frequent apologies for speaking to long, followed by more speaking).

Asked what are the top issues to be addressed for America, McCain put the economy first and on most people s minds.

He then said that a subset [of economic issues] is health insurance and healthcare that is affordable and available, [with coverage] for everyone, as we see it.

However, he then doubled back and said that America s security is top of the list, thus pushing healthcare back down to third. (And he later termed Islamic extremism the transcendent challenge. )

Other comments by the senator on healthcare:

He promised that he is going to fix the healthcare problem. And he stated that the American people should make decisions on healthcare that the worst thing we could have is a government-run healthcare system.

And he vowed to fix Social Security and Medicare.

But back to that question by MDD . . . When does the large gap in health insurance for Americans get fixed?

Sorry to make you wait this long, but he didn t answer this one (. . . and that look, like, Who let this guy in?)

Here s what he did say: We will have healthcare for all Americans. Health insurance coverage will not be mandated. And, we will have a free-market solution.

He followed this with an offer to send MDD his position paper on healthcare (which we don t need it s available on his website, but not providing a timeline fix. )

After one more question, the candidate heads to his bus, leaving your MDD representative wishing for more time for questions, some answers to those questions and wondering Just when will healthcare coverage be available to all in America?