"Can we really have a nominee who is indistinguishable from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on immigration, on taxing fuel for global warming" and other issues, Romney asked.
Still, advisors fretted that Huckabee could split conservative support with Romney, throwing the nomination to McCain. "It's possible that could happen," said former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, a Romney domestic policy advisor.
In his own interview with CNN, Huckabee bridled at Romney's attempts to marginalize his candidacy. "I think it is time for Mitt Romney to step aside," he said.
"The fact is, he spent $100 million to have the same market share that I have for $7 million," Huckabee said. "Now anybody with a Harvard MBA ought to know that the business model on that is: It is time to pull the plug on a business that is just not selling that well."
While denying he was angling to be McCain's running mate, Huckabee heaped praise on the senator, the latest sign of their anti-Romney alliance.
"We have had a respectful relationship because we both believe politics needs to be more civil," Huckabee said of McCain.
"And that is why we haven't attacked each other. But we both, McCain and me, we have been on the receiving end of millions of dollars of Mitt Romney's negative attack ads. So we understand that Mitt has tried to become the nominee by destroying the people around him."
McCain, in turn, called Huckabee a "good guy."
"Every place I go and I talk to people," McCain told reporters on his bus, "they genuinely like him."
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michael.finnegan@latimes .com
maeve.reston@latimes.com
seema.mehta@latimes.com
Finnegan reported from Washington, Reston from Boston and Fairfield, Conn., and Mehta from Glen Ellyn, Ill., and Maryland Heights, Mo.
