McCain Keeping Pres. Bush Out of Sight?

May 27, 2008— -- In March, a smiling Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., walked side-by-side with President Bush into the White House Rose Garden to bask in the president's endorsement.

"I'm very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States, a man who I have great admiration, respect and affection (for)," McCain said.

The happy occasion ended with a handshake for photographers, then the two men who had clashed at times in their political careers, walked off together. That was the last time the two were seen together in public.

McCain and Bush will reunite tonight. The president will headline a fundraiser for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in Phoenix. But this time, when they come together, it will be a very private affair.

This fundraiser was originally supposed to be an open event at the Phoenix Convention Center, but the McCain campaign asked that it be moved to a private location.

"You don't ever want to stand next to somebody who has horrible favorability ratings, because it hurts you," ABC News political contributor Matthew Dowd said. "Standing next to someone who has bad ratings, (and with whom) you are on the same team, Republican, hurts you. So, he's got to figure out how to make that break and how to move past that, because if he is perceived as running as another Republican in the line of Bush, he can't win an election this year."

Even without the photographic evidence, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., used the event to tie McCain to Bush.

"Today, John McCain is having a different kind of meeting," Obama said at a town hall in Las Vegas. "He's holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona. No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Sen. McCain doesn't want to be seen, hat-in-hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years."

At every opportunity, the Democrats have been seeking to characterize McCain as "McSame" -- a virtual clone of the president, whose election would be equivalent to a third Bush term.