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McCain says he wants Bush on the trail |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 03/05/08 02:26 PM [ET] |
The day after clinching the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) stood outside the Oval Office with President Bush and said he wants the president to campaign for him.
“I hope the president will find time from his busy schedule to be out on the campaign trail with me,” McCain said Wednesday. “And I will be very privileged to have the opportunity being again on the campaign trail with him, only slightly different roles.”
The Arizona senator, his wife and his top advisers joined the president for lunch at the White House, where McCain received the president’s endorsement before the two men took questions from reporters in a Rose Garden press conference that was largely dominated by Bush.
While the two remaining Democratic contenders showed Tuesday night that their nomination battle could continue for months, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has already started a series of attacks aimed at painting McCain as offering a “third Bush term.”
That message, combined with the president’s low approval ratings, a sagging economy and an unpopular war, caused many reporters to ask Wednesday if the president could be detrimental to McCain’s hopes of winning the White House.
“Look, if my showing up and endorsing him helps him, or if I'm against him and it helps him, either way, I want him to win,” Bush said, adding that “they’re not going to be voting for me.”
McCain said he does need the president’s help in raising money, particularly as the two Democratic candidates in the race have been shattering fundraising records.
Bush said he would help the senator in that area, adding that he will find time to campaign with McCain.
“And if he wants my pretty face standing by his side at one of these rallies, I'll be glad to show up,” Bush said. “But they're going to be looking at him, you know.”
McCain joked that he would like the president to campaign for him in Texas, but Bush said the Arizona senator will win the state in a “landslide” and he will not be needed there.
Bush was also asked how he would advise McCain on selecting a running mate. The president joked that the senator should be careful about whom he picks to head that selection committee. Vice President Cheney was in charge of coming up with the president’s list.
“People don't vote for vice presidents, as much as I hate to say that, for those who have been candidates for vice president,” Bush said. “They're going to vote for who gets to sit inside that Oval Office and make decisions on how to protect the country and keep taxes low, and how to have a culture that respects the dignity of every human being.”
McCain was scheduled to go directly from the White House to the Republican National Committee’s headquarters on Capitol Hill to begin the process of taking over the party.
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