While Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, again refused yesterday to address speculation that he might be John McCain's running mate, he gave a speech that could be interpreted as an audition for the job.

Speaking to the Greater Richmond Chamber at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Cantor proposed a "middle-class bill of rights" to ease voters' concerns about the slumping economy.

Cantor, who is Jewish, also talked about his family's humble immigrant roots.

A representative of the chamber introduced Cantor as "our rock star."

"My kids would be amused," he said.

Cantor said his father's mother came to Richmond as an immigrant from Russia. As a young widow, she raised a family atop a grocery store she owned and ran in Jackson Ward and on Church Hill.

She was able to send both of the children to college, he said. Cantor, whose father became a lawyer and developer, is now said to be worth several million dollars.

Cantor proposed the middle-class bill of rights for the first time. It includes a proposal he said he borrowed from Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France. Cantor would exclude overtime pay from taxes to give workers more take-home pay and help give more incentives toward greater productivity.

Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., has introduced a bill to do this. Cantor said he sees little chance it will pass.

Cantor advocated economic proposals that would cut the corporate tax rate from 25 percent to 15 percent, and make health care more flexible so people could change jobs, or retire, and take their health insurance with them. He said the U.S. should allow drilling for oil and natural gas offshore to bring down fuel prices.

In an effort to bring down the cost of food, Cantor proposed suspending the law that requires gasoline to contain 8 percent ethanol, which is made from corn.

A spokeswoman for McCain said Cantor's proposals are consistent with some of McCain's, but she said she knew of no coordination between the two on the address. A spokeswoman for Cantor said he had been working on the proposal for some time.

While the chamber is nonpartisan, Cantor defended McCain and attacked the Democratic presidential candidate, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, without naming either.

Obama's tax policies would lead to "a deep recession," while McCain's would lead to economic growth, he said.

Obama has proposed lowering taxes on middle-income people and raising taxes on the wealthy. McCain and other Republicans say the net effect would be higher taxes.

Asked several times about the vice presidential speculation, Cantor said, "I don't want to talk about that."

Reporters pursued Cantor at the chamber event and later at the Goochland Courthouse, where he took a brief tour of the Goochland Free Clinic and Family Services facility, a medical clinic for poor Goochland residents.

(Cantor's wife, Diana Cantor, is a member of the board of directors of Media General Inc., parent company of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.