McCain camp fights criticism over tanker deal

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - The campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain fought back on Wednesday against criticism his advisers lobbied for a European company to win a $35 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force.

Boeing Co on Tuesday formally protested the Air Force's rejection of its proposal for a $35 billion aerial tanker program, saying its bid was evaluated unfairly and the competition was seriously flawed.

The work was won by Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp partnered with EADS, parent of Airbus, Boeing's archrival.

An earlier Air Force plan to lease, then buy, 100 Boeing 767 tankers was criticized by McCain and ultimately collapsed in 2004 amid a huge procurement scandal that sent two Boeing employees to prison.

Critics have charged that the role of McCain's advisers raise an appearance of impropriety.

They point to lobbyist Thomas Loeffler, a former Republican member of Congress from Texas who is McCain's campaign co-chairman and who was a lobbyist for EADS, as well as two other Loeffler associates who are advisers to the McCain campaign.

McCain, an Arizona senator, had written letters urging the Air Force to conduct a fair and competitive bidding process for the tanker deal but he insists that was the extent of his involvement.

"None of them lobbied him on this thing," said McCain senior adviser Mark Salter. "So where is even the appearance? He wasn't lobbied, and at the time he was involved in this process, they weren't lobbying on it. Where is the appearance of a problem?"

Boeing charges the Air Force changed its requirements and the way it evaluated the competing bids, after it sent out requests for bids on the contract, in a way that favored the larger Northrop/EADS aircraft.

"John McCain fully supports Boeing's right to a review, and will demand that this review is fair," said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt.

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/

(Reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Philip Barbara)