Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he will bring the Republican Party together to win the presidency.
"We will unite
the party behind our
conservative principles and move forward and win the general election in November," the Arizona senator said the day after significantly padding his lead over rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
Standing in front of his "Straight Talk Express" bus, flanked by the man he has called his "favorite Democrat," independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, McCain said he was "pleased at the depth and breadth of our victory last night."
Supporters like Lieberman and Graham, he said, "gave us a broad base of support from all parts of this party."
McCain said he has canceled a planned trip abroad this weekend in order to "wrap this up as quickly as possible."
Comparing his home state with that of his more conservative rival, he said, "We won by a much larger margin in Arizona than Gov. Romney did in Massachusetts."
"Is there a lot of work to unite the entire party?" he asked rhetorically. "Sure. After the campaigns are over, you''''ve always got the task of uniting the party behind the nominee."
But he expressed confidence he can do just that.
"Our message will be we all share common conservative principles," he said. "Fundamental conservative political philosophy, which has been my record."
Now the focus of the presidential races is on primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia next Tuesday.