Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain's [Images] Deputy Campaign Manager Christian Ferry has said a key part of the newly minted Indo-Americans for McCain '08, founded by the Silicon Valley father-son duo of entrepreneurs Deven and Vishal Verma, would be to build a bipartisan community of Indian Americans comprising Democrats, Republicans and Independents to support McCain for President.

'This is an important target group in some of our key target states including Florida [Images], Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and it's building not only a group of Republican Indian Americans to support Senator McCain, but also Independents and Democrats because this is what's going to make this coalition truly successful,' Ferry said.

In a teleconference organised by Indo-Americans for McCain '08, he lauded the Vermas for their support and said 'they are not only helping us in this effort of building the Indo-American coalition, but are also part of our Citizens for McCain Coalition, which is an organisation of Democrats and Independents who are supporting John McCain.' Ferry said the new group would be important for winning some key states.

Speaking to rediff India Abroad, Ferry said an integral component of the group would be "to open up a forum to communicate with the Indian community in the US about the issues that are of significant importance, which may not get as much attention during the national debate, but provide a conversation and a way to talk about some of these � bilateral relations and issues that may be lacking from the broader discussion.

"Secondly, we are going to have a well-organized effort to turn these people out to vote, to be able to use mail, and phones and others contacts � peer to peer technology � to be in touch with them and to help spread John McCain's message of not only a strong national defence but economic reforms at home to keep our economy competitive and our nation growing."

Asked why there aren't any senior or even mid-level Indian-American staffers on the McCain Campaign, Ferry said "We have a number of people working within out coalition's effort of Indian descent, and Senator McCain actually relies quite closely on the counsel and the friendship with Governor [Bobby] Jindal in Louisiana, and other prominent Indian Americans."

Asked if McCain would appoint Indian Americans to senior positions in his administration, Ferry said, "Senator McCain has always looked at folks who are most capable to fill these roles, and he will build a cabinet that actually reflects both the opinions and diversity of America."

Asked about criticism that the Republican Party remains white-dominated, as was manifest during the recent party convention in St Paul-Minneapolis, Ferry said, "You are going to see Senator McCain particularly making an effort to expand diversity in the party. He's certainly taken a step by selecting a female running mate [Alaska Governor Sarah Palin [Images]] to change some of the views of that, and will continue to reach out through efforts like this to build new coalitions inside of our party, attracting Indian Americans to our effort and building them not just into the McCain campaign, which is the first step, but hopefully building them into a more permanent place within the Republican Party and being able to grow our party by reaching out to new groups like this."

When informed that the story that came out of the Minneapolis convention was that there had been a fairly significant reversal of diversity, and that the 2008 convention was 'whiter' than any other in the modern era, Ferry protested, "You cannot take one convention and make a broad conclusion that the Republican Party has necessarily changed. You have to look at the party as a whole and look at the effort that Senator McCain is making particularly to build a broader and newer coalition within his campaign that can become a part of the Republican Party going forward."

Deven Verma said Senator McCain has remained a good friend to India and to the community, and supports all facets of the US-India relationship including "his unwavering and unequivocal support for the US-India civilian nuclear deal", unlike Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama [Images] who he said had introduced some 'poison-pill' amendments during the 2006 debate on the Hyde.