Bush to help if McCain’s nominee

President Bush pledged Sunday to assist Sen. John McCain’s campaign for the presidency assuming he wins the Republican Party nomination -- but acknowledged that the Arizona senator has “got some convincing to do” among the party’s conservatives.

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday” at his retreat at Camp David, Md., Bush was careful to note that two Republicans are still competing for the nomination, and he did not express a preference.

But Bush made clear that he was willing to set aside the tensions he has had with McCain in the past, and he praised the front-runner as “a true conservative.”

“I think that if John’s the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative. And I’ll be glad to help him if he is the nominee, because he is a conservative,” Bush said.

“Look, he’s very strong on national defense. He’s tough fiscally. He believes that tax cuts ought to be permanent. He’s pro-life. . . . His principles are sound and solid as far as I’m concerned,” Bush said.

Bush and McCain have clashed over the years, notably when they competed for the Republican nomination in 2000. McCain has often been at odds with the Bush White House, perhaps most famously in opposing the administration’s use of interrogation techniques that McCain and other critics describe as torture.

Bush brushed off right-wing animosity toward McCain as a normal part of primary politics.

“There’s probably some personal animosity toward me. You can’t please all the people all the time,” Bush said.

Bush also praised the other remaining Republican candidate, Mike Huckabee, who won contests Saturday in Louisiana and Kansas.

Recalling contact they had when Bush was governor of Texas and Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, the president described Huckabee as “a good, solid, conservative person” who showed “he’s disciplined” by losing more than 100 pounds.

“He sets a goal and he takes care of business,” Bush said.

Huckabee himself appeared on two other Sunday morning talk shows, vowing to stay in the race until someone captures the 1,191 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

By some estimates, Huckabee will not have enough delegates for the nomination even if he sweeps the remaining contests. But Huckabee noted that McCain could also fall short.

“It’s not just how many I need; Sen. McCain also needs that many,” Huckabee said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And if he doesn’t get that many, he’s not the nominee either. This thing could go to the convention.”

Huckabee added that he would pull out of the race if McCain hit 1,191 delegates. But he rejected former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s assertion last week, when he withdrew from the race, that a protracted battle for the Republican nomination would only help Democrats take the White House.

“For us to suddenly act like that we have to all step aside and have a coronation instead of an election, that’s the antithesis of everything Republicans are supposed to believe,” he said. “We believe that competition breeds excellence and that the lack of it breeds mediocrity.”

Huckabee added that he would back McCain if McCain won the nomination, and said he was not interested in becoming McCain’s running mate.

Even as Bush said he’d help McCain if he won the Republican nomination, the president’s former secretary of State, Gen. Colin L. Powell, said in a separate interview that he was open to voting for a Democrat for president.

Powell, a Republican, praised Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

“I think he’s been an exciting person on the political stage,” Powell said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “He has energized a lot of people in America; he has energized a lot of people around the world.”

Powell backed Obama’s proposal to open talks with Iran -- a key difference with Obama’s opponent, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- saying it was important to engage with leaders of states in conflict with U.S. policies.

“You have to talk to folks that you may not necessarily like, and you can’t put down impossible preconditions for conversations,” said Powell in a clear reference to Clinton, who has said she would not open discussions with antagonists without ground rules.

“You can’t say, ‘Give me what I want before I will talk to you,’ ” Powell said. “That doesn’t work. It won’t work with Syria; it won’t work with Iran.”

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maura.reynolds@latimes.com

peter.spiegel@latimes.com