McCain shifts focus of campaign

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The John McCain campaign is moving on, with or without Mike Huckabee in the race.

But veteran conservative activist Paul Weyrich and other like-minded conservatives aren't ready to let him cruise to the nomination so easily.

Weyrich, a former Mitt Romney supporter, voted in Virginia's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday for Huckabee — even though he knows McCain will be his party's nominee. Weyrich called conservative support for Huckabee "the one chance we have to send a message that he (McCain) needs to accommodate conservatives if he expects to win."

McCain escaped Virginia with a closer-than-expected victory and easily won Maryland and the District of Columbia to sweep Tuesday's "Potomac primary."

At a Holiday Inn ballroom here, McCain congratulated Huckabee for making things "maybe a little too interesting at times tonight," and then quickly moved on to the "much bigger decision" — referring to a fall presidential campaign.

Striking a conservative theme, McCain said the Democratic nominee — whether it is Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama — will insist that "the solution to government's failures is to simply make it bigger."

The Arizona senator is now focused less on Huckabee than on finding common ground with conservatives who have criticized him on subjects ranging from immigration to his temper.

Senior McCain adviser Charles Black said that while he and other campaign aides respect Huckabee's decision to stay in the race, "we're proceeding ahead with our party unity efforts."

As voters trekked to the polls, McCain spoke with colleagues at a Senate Republican policy lunch — some of whom have also fought with him.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who has drawn McCain's scorn on the campaign trail for funding his pet projects with federal money, said after the lunch: "I always support the nominee of our party — yes, I told him that."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, once cursed by McCain during an argument over immigration, joked that the nominee-in-waiting "certainly has a way of expressing himself."