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Republican John McCain took one more step towards putting the primary campaign behind him. He received the formal endorsement of his onetime contender Mitt Romney. "That is expected to put more pressure on Mike Huckabee to get out of the race," CBS' Chip Reid predicted. The two "now former bitter rivals stood stiffly side by side" at their joint press conference in Boston, observed ABC's Ron Claiborne (embargoed link). He replayed a soundbite of the two locking horns: "You can spend your whole fortune on these attack ads but it still will not be true," McCain had snapped. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell called it an end to "a fierce contentious rivalry."
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, on the other hand, have yet to make peace. Referring to his oratory, she was scornful: "Words are cheap," she argued. "Speeches do not put food on the table." She complained about his reluctance to debate: "Maybe he would prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions." If neither candidate can produce a majority of delegates before the convention, unidentified party insiders told NBC's Andrea Mitchell that "the only Democrat with enough clout" to resolve the deadlock is Al Gore. ABC's Kate Snow's unnamed inside sources reported "frustration" and "infighting" between Rodham Clinton's strategist Mark Penn and her advertising guru Mandy Grunwald. Grunwald produced a spot showing a skydiver to illustrate the idea that the economy could be in free fall. "Your ad does not work. The execution is all wrong," Penn protested. Grunwald fired back: "The problem is your message."
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