McCain said he wants to keep tribes from building new off-reservation casinos that ratchet up gambling in urban areas. He said he does not yet know how he would deal with current off-reservation proposals, including one for Cascade Locks.

If Congress doesn't take action, "you get into a situation of, where does it stop?" McCain said in an interview with The Oregonian. "Soon every Indian tribe is going to have a casino in downtown, metropolitan areas. . . . I do think it's not a healthy thing to do."

McCain, who is pondering running for president again in 2008, visited Portland on Monday to meet with tribal leaders, appear at a $2,000-a-person fundraiser for Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and speak at an Oregon Business Association dinner.

The senator delivered what sounded like the rough draft of a presidential stump speech as he decried wasteful federal spending, urged immigration reform and pleaded with Congress to work in a bipartisan fashion.

McCain said Congress needed to eliminate questionable public works projects and focus on such issues as the looming shortfall in Social Security. He called for more controls at the border with Mexico and said the United States needed programs allowing guest workers and enabling illegal immigrants to gradually become citizens.

In addition, he said that if the United States were to withdraw from Iraq, the country would "become a hotbed of extremism and terrorism, which will then become exported to the United States."

Leaders from several of the nine Oregon tribes who met with McCain at Portland State University's native affairs center said they opposed any changes in the 1988 law that regulates Indian gambling.

"Perhaps it is safer for the tribes . . . to keep it as it is," said Sue Shaffer, chairwoman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, which runs the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville.

McCain replied that tribal gambling has grown from a $580 million-a-year business in 1988, to a $19.5 billion industry that needs more oversight.

"The issue is going to be revisited," he said. "I'm sorry, we have a difference of opinion."

The Arizona senator told the tribal officials that he wants stricter financial oversight of tribal casinos, saying there have been problems with corruption. He also referred to the scandal engulfing lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has close ties to the Bush administration and has been accused of misleading tribes on gambling issues to obtain large fees from them.

McCain said it is too early to say whether legislation on tribal gambling -- which he has not yet formally introduced -- would affect any local casino proposals.

With the backing of Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are seeking approval from the Department of the Interior to build an off-reservation casino at Cascade Locks. The Warm Springs tribes say it is part of their historic territory and is better environmentally than a site on reservation land near Hood River.

Critics, including the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which operates the state's largest casino, have said that Oregon should stick to its policy of restricting tribal casinos to reservations and that it increases pressure on other tribes to move their gambling operations closer to Portland.

In Washington state, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe wants federal approval to create a reservation near La Center that would be the location for a large casino financed by a wealthy Connecticut tribe. That proposal also could be affected by changes in federal law.

Several tribal leaders also encouraged McCain to oppose weakening the Endangered Species Act, which they said is important for preserving wild salmon runs.

McCain said the Senate would not go along with House-passed legislation making major changes in the act. He expressed doubt in an interview that the Senate would pass any bill dealing with the Endangered Species Act in this session of Congress.

"I haven't heard a groundswell of people saying, 'Reform the Endangered Species Act,' " he said.

Jeff Mapes: 503-221-8209; jeffmapes@news.oregonian.com