Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, should be considered to replace Christopher Cox as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Republican John McCain said.

McCain, an Arizona senator and his party's presidential nominee, has called for Cox's resignation, saying regulators failed to head off the crisis in the financial markets. Cuomo is respected and ``did a good job'' as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Democratic Clinton administration, McCain said last night on CBS's ``60 Minutes'' program.

``I think he is somebody who could restore some credibility, lend some bipartisanship to this effort,'' the senator said.

The New York State Democratic Party, in a statement posted today on its Web site, responded with a ``thanks but no thanks'' message to McCain. The statement also quoted Governor David Paterson, a Democrat, as saying: ``McCain may want Andrew, but I can tell you Andrew wants Obama. And we in New York want Andrew right here and not in D.C.''

Cuomo's office didn't respond to requests for comment. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper reported that the attorney general, at an event in the city, said he's ``happy doing what I'm doing.''

New Regulations

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, who also appeared on the program, called for new regulations to meet the challenges posed by the evolving financial markets.

``There is no doubt that if we had had a regulatory system that had kept pace with the changes in the financial system, that would have had an enormous impact in containing some of the problems that are out there,'' said Obama, 47, a senator from Illinois. ``You've got greedy CEOs and investors who are taking too much risk.''

Deregulation was ``probably helpful to the growth of the economy,'' according to McCain, who said he doesn't regret voting in 1999 to break down the barriers that separated commercial and investment banks.

Obama's proposals on taxes and government spending would be ``the surest way to turn a recession into a depression,'' McCain said.

McCain, 72, also said he would abolish the White House political office and move it to the Republican National Committee. That office was run during much of George W. Bush's presidency by strategist Karl Rove, the architect of Bush's two successful White House campaigns.

``We've got to have a White House that is without politics,'' McCain said. ``It's time to show the American people that politics will not be part of this massive effort we're going to have to go on to restore our nation's economy.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington at echen32@bloomberg.net; Catherine Larkin in Washington at clarkin4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 22, 2008 15:42 EDT