McCain Rides His Campaign Bus With Huckabee

From CBS News' Dante Higgins:

Mike Huckabee joined John McCain on his campaign bus today in Arkansas and weighed in on the controversy with Barack Obama and his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

“I think that would be a little presumptuous to ever assume that just because the pastor says something in the pulpit everybody in the pew agrees with it. That’s rarely the case. Influential? Sure. Necessarily transferable? Usually not,” Huckabee, who's also an ordained Baptist minister, told reporters today.

Huckabee reflected on the primary battle between he and McCain saying, “For me the fortunate thing is I don't have to go around and unsay anything I said during the campaign.”

"We had a very civil relationship and I though it was significant that the two of us ran frankly, the most civil campaigns in the entire primary ended up the last two on our feet,” he said. Huckabee dropped out of the race after the March 4 primaries.


McCain told the story of how they got to know each other last year at an AARP forum in Iowa. “I still think people remember it as one of the most illuminating and educational experiences they’ve had on health care. As we stood next to each other at the very end of podiums through the debates, Gov. Huckabee and I had lots of time to chat with each other since at one point there were very few questions that were directed to us,” McCain said, alluding to the fact that at the time, both he and Huckabee were trailing badly in the GOP race.

“The main thing is getting John McCain elected,” Huckabee said. McCain told reporters to expect to see Huckabee on the campaign trail again beyond Arkansas.

Huckabee also referenced Hillary Clinton's TV ad that criticized McCain for not being able to answer a phone call at 3am in the event of an economic crisis. He said the phone will also ring at 3 in the afternoon as well, “And I think that people in America are going to see that Senator McCain is ready for prime time.”

Huckabee said he’s been reaching out to religious leaders on behalf of McCain and feels the party, including social conservatives, will get behind McCain.

“I expect the entire party is going to rally behind Senator McCain. It already is. There is a very good movement taking place within the party, not just to coalesce but to strengthen and to really bond and realize that this is a very critical election that we can’t afford to take lightly. There’s going to be a lot of energy for whoever the Democrat is. They’ve been out of the White House for 8 years. They’re hungry, they want it back," Huckabee said.