McCain wins president's blessing - and party's muscle

By MICHAEL COOPER and ELISABETH BUMILLER, New York Times

Last update: March 5, 2008 - 8:27 PM

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was greeted here Wednesday as the new standard-bearer of a Republican Party he has sometimes battled, winning the endorsement of a president he has feuded with in the past and the embrace -- and financial help -- of the Republican National Committee.

McCain traveled from Dallas to the White House for a hot dog lunch alone with President Bush in a private dining room off the Oval Office. He then formally received the endorsement of Bush, his one-time rival, in a brief appearance in the Rose Garden.

"I'm very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States," McCain said as he stood beside Bush, for whom he said he had "great admiration, respect and affection."

The McCain campaign has wrestled with the question of how to use Bush, who is unpopular with many voters. But McCain went out of his way on Wednesday to express his gratitude for the president's support as he seeks to rally skeptical conservatives behind his candidacy.

In a sign of how much Democrats will relish hammering McCain as the candidate for a third Bush term, the Democratic National Committee posted a video clip of Bush's endorsement on its website on Wednesday afternoon.

"John McCain has worked hard over the last eight years to throw away his maverick image and morph into the ultimate Bush Republican," the party said in an e-mail message to the news media and Democratic supporters. "As President Bush himself said today, a vote for John McCain is a vote for more of the same failed Bush policies."

The president, for his part, made it clear that he would do whatever was asked to help McCain, who campaigned for Bush in 2004 even after their bitter rivalry in the 2000 campaign.

But of more immediate benefit to the McCain campaign may be the help of the Republican National Committee. McCain visited its Washington headquarters on Wednesday, pointing to one tangible benefit of wrapping up the nomination. It allows him to basically take over the national party apparatus, which has $25 million on hand and a political staff, while the Democratic National Committee cannot actively support a candidate until one is selected as the nominee.

At the White House, both McCain and Bush danced around awkward questions about how much Bush would campaign for McCain.

"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. "And if he wants my pretty face standing by his side at one of these rallies, I'll be glad to show up."

McCain said he would welcome having Bush campaign with him: "I'm pleased to have him as it fits into his busy schedule."

McCain's top advisers have said that they are eager to enlist the president for his fundraising prowess but that they do not want him to appear too often with McCain. They have insisted that their reluctance in having Bush campaign heavily has nothing to do with the president's unpopularity. Instead, they have said they would not like any sitting president to appear too often with McCain because he needs to "stand in the sun" on his own, as one adviser recently put it.