McCain Says He Won’t Abandon GOP for Reform Party

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Monday that he had no intention of abandoning the GOP for the Reform Party, as Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura suggested.

Ventura, the highest-ranking elected official of the Reform Party, said Sunday that the Arizona senator would make a strong Reform candidate.

“Although I am flattered by his kind words, I would instead ask him and his supporters to consider pursuing our shared reform agenda through the party to which I am a proud and loyal member--the Republican Party,” McCain said in a statement.

He called the Republican Party “the real party of reform.”

“I intend to reach out to Reform Party members and reform-minded voters everywhere to support my candidacy for president because our cause is greater than partisan politics.”

McCain trails the Republican front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, in recent public opinion polls and in fund-raising.

Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire quit the Republican Party earlier this month and said he would continue to campaign for the White House as an independent.

McCain made his comments at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, in Houston. Bush was not scheduled to attend.

McCain spoke at length about his central campaign issue--the need for campaign finance reform. “The influence of money is corrupting our ability to address the problems that directly affect the lives of every American,” he said.