Straight Talk In Suspension

Senator John McCain
has pulled his Straight Talk Express off the Campaign 2000 road to the White House.

"I am no longer an active candidate for my party's nomination for president," McCain said Thursday in
Sedona, Ariz.

But in his prepared remarks, McCain stopped short of endorsing his GOP rival, Texas Governor George W. Bush.

"A majority of Republican voters made clear that their preference for president is Governor Bush," McCain said. "I respect their decision."

"I am suspending my campaign so that (my wife) Cindy and I can take some time to reflect our recent experiences and determine how we can best continue to serve the country and help bring about the changes to the practices and institution of our great democracy that are the purpose of our campaign," he said.

Beyond that, what stood out in McCain's remarks was how little he closed the door to anything else.

"He clearly is negotiating for something --- he keeps saying not (for) Vice President," said CBS News Political Director Dotty Lynch.
"He wants campaign finance reform. He's going to try to see if he can move that issue during the course of the campaign. And he has some (GOP) delegates and a lot of independent voters who like that message."

About whether McCain would ultimately back Bush, the Senator's campaign spokesman Howard Opinsky said on Thursday, "It sounded like he said he was going to be a loyal Republican."

CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer reports McCain's campaign took a "shrill" turn when the Senator attacked religious right icons Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

"I think he may have gone a step too far when he talked about those preachers being 'evil,'" said Schieffer, referring a later McCain comment about Robertson and Falwell that the Senator said was only meant to be joking.

Even so, Schieffer continued, "I think in some ways that frightened some of the people in the Republican Party. You know, he talked about 'reform' all through this, but it reached a point where I think some Republicans said, 'We don't want to be reformed that much.'"

But McCain refused to pull down the reform banner when he suspended his bid.

"I hoped our campaign would be a force for change in the Republican Party. I believe we have set a course that will ultimately prevail in making our party as big as the country we serve," said the Senator.

McCain campaign aides have said their candidate's options are wide open - from promoting campaign finance reform to launching a third-party bid for the White House.

But on Thursday, the Senator said again what he's said before: "I love my party. It is my home."

McCain also vowed to "take our crusade back to the Senate," where he's long been at odds with his own GOP leadership over campaign finance reform and tobacco regulation.

"I will keep trying to force open doors where thee are walls ... be they walls of cynicism or intolerance, or walls raised by self-interested elite who would exclude your voice from the highest councils of government," he said.

The Senator, who was open and accessible to reporters on the campaign trail in New Hampshire and elsewhere, took no questions from the press after his remarks.

Campaigning in Colorado, Bush praised his rival for "fighting the good fight."

The Governor said he had "a very short" telephone conversation with McCain, but didn't ask for an endorsement from him yet.

"I intend to talk with him at his convenience," Bush told reporters. "There needs to be some time to settle out. John needed some time to think."

A senior Bush adviser said McCain's team has assured the Bush camp that he won't bolt the GOP, and won't make any demands in return for an endorsement. Bush's aides have also been told that McCain wants to be a "resource" for the Republican campaign, but they don't yet know what would convince McCain to back the Governor.

Schieffer reports McCain is "angry --- and I think because he does believe in this 'reform' business, I think because many of his people think that because George Bush ran an underhanded campaign against him."

"They have seen if he runs as an independent candidate he might get as much as a quarter of the vote. That's enough to give anyone pause, and that's what will give him something to think about."

A GOP source said Bob Dole, the Republican nominee four years ago, has contacted at least one McCain intermediary, asking to talk to his former colleague who stumped for Dole in 1996. The source added Dole was acting independently of the Bush campaign.

Super Tuesday brought McCain to this point. Bush bested him in this week's huge round of primaries, building an almost unbeatable lead over the Senator in the GOP delegate count. Within a few hours of that outcome, McCain scrapped his campaign schedule for the rest of the week and began to huddle with senior strategists and financial backers about what to do next.

McCain's campaign added a spark to a GOP contest that most had expected Bush to dominate. The Senator rocked the campaign with upset wins in New Hampshire and Michigan. Interest in the GOP fight was high and voter turnout in some early contests soared.

The ultimate meaning of McCain's move hinges on Bush's reaction. Despite defeating McCain soundly, Bush presumably would want to reach out to independent voters who rallied to the Senator's cause - and that could require some degree of accommodation. The GOP primary campaign has been bruising with little effort so far to find middle ground, but political realities - in other words, Vice President Al Gore - could alter that.

Things were likely to get worse for McCain if he had stayed in the race at full steam. Next week includes contests in Florida and Texas, both states with governors named Bush and hge delegate totals.