(Reuters) - Reaction from the U.S. presidential candidates and key lawmakers to the Bush administration proposals for broad reform of financial regulation.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

"There is still a very serious gap between what the administration is proposing and the immediate crisis that we face," Clinton told Reuters.

"Although I appreciate and agree with some of the recommendations, the blueprint is simply too short on action."

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

"George Bush finally figured out that we need to maybe have some oversight of the financial markets. So he's putting out a plan and it turns out that he is introducing some consolidation and streamlining of the regulatory system on Wall Street. But he's not making the regulations any tougher. He's not preventing the predatory lending that is responsible for a lot of these problems."

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said the Arizona senator "looks forward to a healthy debate over the best path forward and will study the longer-term proposals of the U.S. Treasury to modernize financial regulation in the United States. In light of recent events, the short-term recommendation to create a Mortgage Origination Commission that also evaluates states' systems for licensing and regulation of the mortgage origination process is of note. A large fraction of the troubled subprime mortgages may be traced to independent originators operating under these guidelines."

Rogers said McCain also supports steps for "additional transparency and accountability to accompany temporary liquidity provisioning by the Federal Reserve."