McCain A True-Blue Republican

Arizona Sen. John McCain said again on Monday that no one - not even Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura - is going to entice him to run for president as an independent.

"I will not leave the Republican Party," McCain said during a news conference at the Mall of America. "The Republican Party is my home."

Ventura, who has said he likely won't endorse Al Gore or George W. Bush, has praised McCain, saying he could win if he ran for president as an independent.

Not likely, McCain said.

"I am not considering that," he said.

McCain and Ventura have talked several times on the phone, but had never met in person. A brief face-to-face meeting was scheduled for later in the day, presumably to discuss their old Navy days and wrestling, among other topics.

"I was a mediocre high school and college wrestler," McCain said. "And I used to wear a feather boa around the Senate sometimes."

Both also have pushed for campaign finance reform, and McCain said he would like to work with Ventura on the issue.

But that's where the similarities end, McCain said, brushing off questions about whether he had modeled his presidential campaign after Ventura's nontraditional campaign for governor.

"While I was winning, I think perhaps the governor took more credit for my campaign than when I lost," he said.

Ventura had questioned why McCain would only "suspend" his campaign if he really was done for the year.

"What's going to happen there? I don't know," Ventura said during his weekly radio show Friday. "It ought to be pretty interesting. Maybe we'll get some insight into whether he's truly out of this race because we know he has only suspended his campaign, and that always gives you a little bit of suspicion there."

McCain said he decided to suspend rather than end his campaign so that his supporters - who back campaign finance reform - would still be able to serve as delegates at the national GOP convention.

He quickly added, "I do not have any intention of causing problems at the convention."