John McCain may have more experience in Indian affairs but Wizipan Garriott, the Native vote director for Barack Obama, says the Republican candidate is following Obama's lead.

McCain and Obama delivered video messages to the National Congress of American Indians convention on Tuesday and both said they would appoint an Indian adviser at the White House. That's something Obama put in his platform long before McCain brought it up.

"McCain has followed Barack's lead on Indian issues," Garriott, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, told Kevin Abourezk of RezNet News.

McCain served two terms as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and played a role in nearly every major piece of Indian legislation that has become law since the late 1980s. But more tribal leaders have endorsed Obama.

Get the Story:
Kevin Abourezk: Obama's Native Vote Director Takes Stand (RezNet News 10/23)

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