John McCain and Jay Leno

While the Democrats hold their convention and basically take control of the air waves in terms of political coverage, John McCain got some face time on network TV Monday by appearing as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

McCain was making his 13th appearance on the show.

He began by commenting on Leno's jokes about his age.

McCain did one of his own, that he was there to "warn the people about the British coming."

Leno said he knows that McCain has a birthday on Friday and they were going to have a cake but the fire marshal said that many candles...

Leno added, "We've done a few jokes about..."

McCain said, "A few? A few thousand."

He went on, "I've got one: My Social Security number is 8."

Then Leno brought up Obama naming Joe Biden as his running mate.

He asked, "What is your relationship with him?"

Leno commented that all of a sudden it's become so nasty.

McCain laughed, "My how he's changed, Joe. Joe, we hardly knew you."

He said they're friends, and it's only 72 days until the election.

Someone from the audience shouted that McCain will win. He acknowledged the interruption thanked the enthusiastic audience member.

Leno mentioned that Biden was the one who said McCain should be John Kerry's running mate.

McCain said, "Yes, and said that I could run on either party and be great for America."

McCain said he was pleased with being in a dead heat with Obama.

"I'm the underdog. I've always loved that role. I've always wanted to be the underdog. You'll be up late. You'll be up late."

McCain said that everyone's been asking him about his running mate.

"Wouldn't it be good to have a person you don't know what party they're with, they have no political principles whatsoever, they may need a job about that time, um...Who could I be referring to?"

Leno said, "I can make more doing a week in Vegas, but thanks."

McCain followed up, "The house is nice."

Leno said, "Yeah but you've got enough of those. Do you need a white one, too? Come on."

Continuing on the running mate topic, Leno brought up Tim Pawlenty.

McCain said, "He's a great young man. He's a great governor."

Leno predicted that Pawlenty would get "eaten alive" by Biden in a debate, particularly on foreign policy issues.

McCain joked that in a debate with Biden, "the problem might be getting a word in edgewise."

That's straight talk.

McCain said, "Joe Biden is a fine man and a good friend. He'll make a good running mate for Sen. Obama. We just have differences on politial philosophy."

McCain noted that Obama has the most liberal voting record in the Senate and Biden is the 3rd most liberal.

McCain promised, "We'll run a respectful campaign."

"I respect Sen. Obama. I respect his success and he's done a great job in getting the nomination of his party."

Leno said that he's very disappointed about all the negative ads that are being run and he wanted to ask McCain about them after the break.

When they returned, Leno asked, "For $1 million, how many houses do you have?"

McCain responded by asking if he could be serious for a moment.

"I spent five and a half years in a prison cell. And I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.

"I'm very proud of Cindy's father. He was a guy that barely got out of high school, fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps, came home and made a business, and made the American dream."

McCain clearly is not willing to be depicted as a rich, privileged, out of touch guy.

He said that he's proud of his life and his record.

"I'm proud of my record of service to this country, and it has nothing to do with houses. What it has to do with putting Americans in houses, and keeping them in their homes."

On negative ads--

McCain said that he was using humor in his ads while differentiating between him and Obama. However, he said the tone of this campaign is very rough.

He said it would have helped if Sen. Obama had agreed to have townhall meetings, if they would appear together and stand before the American people.

Leno said that since McCain has been using Hillary Clinton in his ads he should ask her to be his running mate.

McCain noted his respect for Hillary.

Some of McCain's best jokes:

"The approval rating for Congress is now down to 9 percent. That's blood relatives and paid staffers."

"We now have a president of France who is pro-American, which shows that anything can happen if you live long enough."

Overall, McCain was very relaxed, very likable, and very positive. He seemed confident and in very good spirits, almost buoyant.

His two segments on The Tonight Show probably were more effective in influencing American voters than the hours of Democratic convention coverage earlier in the evening.