Roundup: McCain says SEC chair should be fired

— -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday he would fire Securities and Exchange Chairman Christopher Cox if he were president, accusing the former GOP congressman of betraying the public's trust.

President Bush appointed Cox to lead the SEC in 2005. He had been a Republican congressman from California for 17 years and had served on House committees overseeing investor protection and U.S. capital markets.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had criticized McCain for responding to the financial turmoil on Wall Street by suggesting a high-level commission be established to study its causes. In his speech Thursday, McCain called for the creation of a trust to work with the private sector and regulators to identify institutions that are weak and to take measures to strengthen them.

"You can't wait any longer for more failures in our financial system," McCain said.

Stocks on Wall Street have tumbled this week amid the worst financial meltdown in the U.S. since the Great Depression.

An SEC spokesman didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on McCain's statement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission oversees regulation of U.S. markets.

Obama promised new ideas Thursday to calm America's financial meltdown and help struggling families avoid mortgage foreclosure. He says "this is not a time for fear and it's not a time for panic."

Obama heaped criticism and sarcasm on John McCain, his Republican rival, and mocked his call to fire the head of the SEC.

Obama said Thursday: "In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path. Don't just get rid of one guy. Get rid of this administration. Get rid of this bureaucracy."

• The Republican ticket targeted the Midwest battleground Thursday.

McCain teams up for the second straight day with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a rally at an airport hangar five miles outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They will then head for a second campaign stop in Green Bay, Wis.