McCain calls for $300 million prize for car battery

By Steve Holland

FRESNO, California (Reuters) - Republican John McCain said on Monday if elected he would propose awarding a $300 million (150 million pound) prize to the auto company that develops a next-generation car battery that weans America off oil.

McCain sought to portray himself as a forward-looking leader on solving the U.S. energy crisis a week after taking heat from Democrats for reversing position and supporting offshore oil drilling.

"Whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of Congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of American vehicles away from oil," McCain told a town hall meeting in Fresno, in rural central California.

With Americans reeling from record-high $4-a-gallon gasoline during the prime summer driving season, both McCain and his Democratic opponent in the November election, Barack Obama, are pressing their proposals for tackling energy problems that are dragging down the U.S. economy.

On a day of campaigning in California, a Democratic-leaning state in which McCain hopes to compete in the November election, the Arizona senator sharply criticized Obama's decision last week not to accept public financing of his campaign.

The decision meant Obama, who had earlier pledged to accept the funding limits of public financing, may raise unlimited amounts from donors, virtually guaranteeing that he will have vast more cash on hand than McCain.

McCain said he was not worried about being outspent, while telling a fundraising event, "I'm the underdog."

At his news conference, he accused Obama of breaking a promise. "A president's got to keep his word when it's popular and when it's not popular," he said.