After McCain endorsed Bush -- who waged such an ugly race against him by, in part, representing the same corporate interests McCain has made it his cause to fight –- the question arose whether there was anything McCain couldn't stomach. Maybe there was.

McCain missed the event in Manchester, N.H., but he met up with Bush again for a packed rally at the Bangor airport. Looking old and beaten, and still recovering from his operation for skin cancer, McCain briefly touched on his bitter fight with Bush that saw Bush allies attack his wife Cindy for a past addiction to painkillers, and launch a "push poll" phone call to voters that reportedly made disparaging remarks about McCain's adopted daughter, who is from Bangladesh.

"We had a great run, and a great time, and a spirited campaign, Governor Bush and I," McCain said. "That campaign that Governor Bush and I waged was good for us, and good for America."

In introducing Bush, McCain said Bush won the three presidential debates, calling his performances "calm" and "assured." He said Bush would "restore respect and honor to the White House."

McCain's pugilistic presence in these two competitive New England states is no accident. McCain, who won the New Hampshire Republican primary, still has a small following here.

"What a good man," Bush said after McCain introduced him. "What a good man. What a good, solid citizen."

"I didn't particularly like it when he beat me in New Hampshire," Bush said, saying that he became "a better candidate" after "this good man put me through my paces ... I can't wait to work with this very good man to do right by the people."

Without McCain by his side in New Hampshire, at St. Anselm College, Bush made sure he mentioned McCain numerous times. The last time Bush was at St. Anselm was primary night 2000, and McCain was handing Bush his hat with a 19 point upset victory. "Some folks might have assumed I wasn't coming back," Bush joked. The loss, of course, also made Bush a tougher, nastier, more ruthless candidate, one whose campaign went shockingly negative against McCain on both a political and a personal level.

But that was all in the past, Bush made clear, taking care to assure the crowd that his friendship with McCain had grown stronger since their bitter, ugly primary fight. He backed a McCain agenda item or two -- "I agree with John McCain; I think we need to have a commission on government waste," he said, and added a plug for a McCain bill against government shutdowns. (Campaign finance reform, McCain's most passionate cause, wasn't mentioned.)

In New Hampshire, the folksy, hour-long town meeting was vintage Bush. He outlined his view of the general philosophical difference with Gore -- the "I trust you, he trusts the government" mantra. He botched the language -- referring to the "stockpile of new-kew-lar weapons" being at a level "commiserate" with the Cold War era.

New to the standard stump appearance, though, were the repeated references to his former nemesis. Bush told the crowd that McCain had endorsed him, that McCain recognizes that "the best way to change the tone in Washington, D.C., is by having a new leader."

In addition to Friday's appearance in Maine, McCain will campaign with Bush's running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney Saturday in Michigan, and with Bush on Wednesday in Florida.

The last time I was watching McCain campaigning in New England, of course, he was singing quite a different tune about Bush.

A sign at St. Anselm, anticipating both Bush and McCain, read "New Hampshire Welcomes the Reformers."

"If George Bush is a reformer, then I'm an astronaut," McCain said during the primary season, some 500 years ago.

At a veterans event at VFW Post No. 1698 in Franklin way back then, McCain reminded people that, unlike certain others, he didn't "need any on-the-job training." He slammed Bush for "defending the current [campaign finance] system." He questioned whether Bush "is ready for prime time."

"Sixty percent of the benefits from Bush's tax cuts go to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans," McCain said in January. "And that's not the kind of tax relief that Americans need ... Governor Bush's plan does not set aside a dime to preserve and protect Social Security or pay down the debt."

All of which has given Democrats more than enough fodder in these final weeks before the election.

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