Barbour Endorses McCain

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By The Associated Press

M50o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Barbour Endorses McCain

Published: Mon, March 03, 2008 - 7:29 pm

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is
endorsing Senator John McCain as the Arizona Republican appears
poised tomorrow (Tuesday) to gather the final few delegates he'll
need to wrap up the Republican nomination for president.
Barbour had been neutral in the presidential race for months. He
tells The Associated Press that he is encouraging Mississippians to
vote for McCain.
Barbour was Republican National Committee chairman from 1993-97
and is still active in raising money and campaigning for GOP
candidates across the country.
There are 256 delegates at stake tomorrow (Tuesday) in Texas,
Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Mississippi is alone in having a
primary March 11.
McCain now has 1,014 delegates. That is 177 short of the 1,191
needed for the nomination. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has
257 delegates.
Barbour's name frequently appears on pundits' lists of potential
Republican vice presidential picks. A University of Georgia
student, Josh Jones, created a Web site to tout the idea -
wdww.drafthaley.com.
Jones, 22, tells AP that he has no financial connections to
Barbour. He says he met the Mississippi governor in 2006 when
Barbour was in Georgia to campaign for Republican Ralph Reed, the
former Christian Coalition leader who ran unsuccessfully for
lieutenant governor.
Barbour dismissed questions about the possibility of his being
on the ticket. He said any Republican who fails to carry
Mississippi will not carry five other states.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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