Bush: My Voters Won't Defect

George W. Bush is locked in a heated battle for the GOP presidential nomination. He told the CBS News Early Show Friday that, while the Palmetto State primary is important, there are many, larger ones to come.

"Well, there's no such thing as a runaway in the primaries," the Texas governor told co-anchor Jane Clayson.

"Every primary is important," he said later.

Even though Bush has more money and better party organization, McCain's charismatic message seems to have energized Republicans. This week, Bush even lost some major backers, such as California's highest elected Republican, Secretary of State Bill Jones.

Bush refused to express regret over Jones - or even failed candidate Gary Bauer - both of whom said this week they'll back McCain.

"If somebody wants to jump ship, they can jump ship," he said. "I intend to be the Republican presidential nominee."

Bush did add that, through the raft of defections, "you find out who your friends are."

Crunch Time For McCain Running dead even in the South Carolina polls, Bush goes into attack mode while McCain holds his head up high on the Straight Talk Express.

"There are Democrats who may be coming into our primary to vote for John McCain because he'll be easier to beat in November."

Bush said that many of the people who are voting for McCain in South Carolina will abandon the GOP in the general election.

On abortion, Bush said this morning that he supports the GOP party plank.

"The Republican plank says there will be a constitutional amendment; it doesn't say what will be in the amendment. when I'm the president, I'm goig to sign a ban on partial-brith abortion, for example."

However, Bush did not deny the he supports a woman's right to an abortion during cases of rape or incest.

On the negative campaigning issue, Bush didn't change his tune of the week going into the last day of South Carolina campaigning.

"I stand by my ads," Bush said. He argued they are not "negative," rather that they point out differences between him and McCain.

Bush has some reason for optimism Friday morning, with a new CNN/USA Today poll giving him a relatively comfortable lead of 52 to 40 percent. Other polls show the rivals running dead even.