McCain's next contest: unifying the GOP
He asks conservative talk show hosts to lay off their criticism of him. Huckabee talks up the Southern factor.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, speaking to reporters one day after winning primary contests in nine states on Super Tuesday, called on conservative radio talk show hosts to end their campaign to discredit his Republican credentials.
"I think they've made their case against me, pretty eloquently," he said. "A majority of Republicans across the nation have expressed" a different view.
McCain, who plans to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington tomorrow, said he hoped now to unite the party. He said the Democratic senators -- Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York -- were "moving further and further to the left. It will make for a very spirited debate and one we can carry from a philosophical standpoint."
Canceling a trip to Munich for a conference on security issues, McCain said he would be "hitting the campaign trail tomorrow morning" and hoped to soon "wrap this thing up and unite the party and take on whoever is the Democratic nominee."
But former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Tuesday in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia, said today that no Republican could win in the fall without the South. McCain's big wins have come in the East and the West.
"You cannot win as a Republican if you don't carry" the South, he said on "Fox and Friends." "You just can't."
The comments fueled speculation that Huckabee, who is in third place in the delegate count behind McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is poised to become McCain's pick for vice president. Both candidates gently brushed aside the talk.
McCain, saying he had "the greatest respect and frankly some affection" for Huckabee, said it might jinx his chances if he started talking about a vice presidential choice. "I'm incredibly superstitious," he said.
Huckabee told NBC's "Today Show" that he was not looking for the position.
"Let's go ahead and be honest now," he said. "Nobody ever wants the vice president's job. Nobody ever turns it down." He added that the real question -- with upcoming contests in Texas and Kansas -- is whether he will select McCain as his running mate.
Asked to comment, McCain smiled and said, "I'm very honored."
As for Romney, he enjoyed his first night home in Boston in more than a month and this morning drove to a strategy session with campaign staff and family members. Asked how he felt, he told reporters, "Got some good sleep."
johanna.neuman@latimes.com
