Bush-McCain rift still isn’t fully healed

PENSACOLA, Fla. – President Bush’s campaign bus rolled on through pouring rain Tuesday, moving across the panhandle of Florida with plain-talking John McCain aboard.

Still, this was no Straight Talk Express. Despite their hug at the start of the day and the president’s invitation for the Arizona senator to spend the night at his Texas ranch, their sometimes-frosty relations have not entirely thawed. And the Bush campaign high command was taking no chances.

Usually on these campaign bus trips, Bush has local reporters aboard for a chat. And on this trip, campaign aides had even considered having “Good Morning America” anchor Diane Sawyer stop by.

There were second thoughts, though, what with McCain incensed at a new television ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that accused Democratic rival John Kerry of lying about his record in Vietnam and, later, opposing the war.

“It’s a really busy day,” said Bush campaign press secretary Scott Stanzel, adding the president has “a lot of stops today in a short amount of time.”

Four years ago, McCain rode his Straight Talk Express bus to victory over Bush in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. But he bowed out a few weeks later, vanquished by a rejuvenated Bush campaign. And rocky relations between the old rivals have yet to fully mend.

So when the president stopped for lunch with McCain in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., reporters were quickly shooed out of Suzanne’s Java Cafe. No questions wanted.

McCain is a big draw on the campaign trail. His maverick streak appeals to independent voters and what the president calls “discerning Democrats.”

“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Bush told supporters in Niceville, Fla., “plus it helps to have him stand by my side.”

And what does McCain get out of all this? On Tuesday, at least, he spent the night at Bush’s Texas ranch.

A Cabinet post in a second Bush term?

Perhaps. But no one on either side is saying. McCain’s long-time political strategist, John Weaver, said the senator “is not asking for anything.”

“He’s a Republican,” Weaver said, and just determined to keep a Republican in the White House.

Nonetheless, the senator weighed earlier overtures by Kerry, also a decorated Vietnam veteran, to be his running mate. But the talks bore no fruit.

Lately, McCain has campaigned with Bush in Washington state and Nevada and with Vice President Dick Cheney in Michigan. He even starred in a Bush television spot, entitled “First Choice,” a not-so-subtle attempt to say that John Edwards was Kerry’s second pick for running mate.

He’s also got a primetime speaking role at the Republican National Convention in New York, and he’s back on the road with Bush today in New Mexico and Arizona.

This trip, though, was a homecoming for McCain, who trained as a Navy pilot in Pensacola nearly 50 years ago.

“Some of my happiest and most exciting times in my life were spent here in Pensacola,” McCain said, “and I’m glad the statute of limitations has expired.”

Bush accuses Kerry of more waffling

Bush used his Florida Panhandle tour to try to undercut Democratic challenger and Vietnam veteran John Kerry’s appeal to fellow veterans in a region bristling with military bases and retired servicemen. The war on terror “is the greatest test of our generation, and he (Bush) has led the fight with great moral clarity,” McCain, a Vietnam War hero, declared when introducing the commander in chief.

Accusing Kerry of waffling on the Iraq war, Bush warned against “a drift toward weakness and uncertainty.”

“America and the world are safer because (deposed Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell,” Bush said.

The president outlined some of his plans for a second term if re-elected, calling for tort reform to limit damages in lawsuits, health insurance pools for small businesses to cover workers and legislation that would give employees more “comp time and flex time to help Americans better juggle the demands of the workplace.”

Three weeks before the Republican National Convention, Bush returned to the “compassionate conservative” theme of the 2000 campaign. “If you re-elect me president, I’ll continue to rally the armies of compassion,” he said.