Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Republican John McCain cited New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, as a potential successor to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

McCain, his party's presidential nominee, called for Cox's resignation last week, saying government regulators failed to head off the current crisis in the financial markets.

Cuomo would be a good replacement because he is respected and ``did a good job'' as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Democratic Clinton administration, McCain, a senator from Arizona, said today.

``I think he is somebody who could restore some credibility, lend some bipartisanship to this effort,'' the senator said on CBS's ``60 Minutes'' program.

McCain and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, in dueling appearances on ``60 Minutes,'' disagreed on a range of issues, including their responses to the credit turmoil.

``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, a senator from Illinois. ``You've got greedy CEOs and investors who are taking too much risk.''

Economic Growth

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 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 21, 2008 19:01 EDT