ANCHESTER, N.H. - George W. Bush revisited his bump in the road yesterday, minus the man who had put it there.
The Texas governor was to have appeared in the Granite State with Arizona Senator John S. McCain, who beat Bush by 19 points in the first-in-the-nation primary in February. McCain's battle with the governor was often bitter, and this was to be their first joint appearance in the state where McCain is still beloved and Bush hopes to pry four electoral votes from Vice President Al Gore.
But McCain's aides said he was sick yesterday morning after a trip to Laurel, Miss., to campaign for a Republican congressional candidate, and couldn't appear here after all.
McCain did show up later in the day, however, at the governor's next stop, an airport rally in Bangor. There, he praised the governor and stood by him while Bush spoke of the tax cut and Social Security plans McCain had opposed so vehemently just eight months ago.
Meanwhile, the Gore campaign and the Democratic National Committee are trying to use McCain against Bush in New Hampshire. A new television ad liberally quotes McCain's primary-season criticisms of the governor's economic plans.
''In this year's election, John McCain said Bush's plan has `not one new penny for Social Security,''' says the spot. ''Now Bush is promising young workers $1 trillion from Social Security for them to invest. But the same money is needed to pay current benefits.... That's anything but straight talk.''
Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew, who appeared outside the Manchester event, said his organization had made its largest radio time purchase ever in New Hampshire for ads that will also use McCain against Bush.
''What I'm doing is to make sure we have some `straight talk' here, and to remind people why they voted for John McCain,'' Andrew said, using the phrase that became synonymous with McCain's candidacy.
Bush appeared at Saint Anselm College, the same place where he delivered his concession speech on primary night. During that speech, he said it was a well-known fact that New Hampshire was ''a bump in the road'' on the way to the presidential nomination. And with the exception of Michigan and a few other states, he was right. He knocked McCain out of the race March 7.
''I'm so glad to be back in New Hampshire,'' he told his audience. ''Some folks might have assumed I wasn't coming back. But I am a better candidate as a result of campaigning last winter in this great state. This is a state that puts you through your paces. Sometimes, it gives you a little dose of humility.''
Bush invoked McCain's name at the start of his speech, citing their common desire to return respect to the White House.
''I'm sorry my friend John McCain took ill,'' he said. ''I know some of you may be here to see him, but he ate some rotten crawfish.''
John Weaver, McCain's political director, said McCain had eaten shrimp and catfish in Mississippi and had fallen ill.
In Manchester, Bush said he shared McCain's priorities, that both men wanted to ''change the tone in Washington'' and to make the military as strong as it could be. He did not mention McCain's top priority: campaign finance reform, which Bush does not discuss on the stump and McCain does not mention in his presence.
In Bangor, McCain waited for Bush as he got off the plane and greeted him warmly. Introducing Bush, he praised the governor's performance in the three debates, saying Bush had been ''a man calm, fully assured and prepared for the presidency.''
Referring to Bush's opponent, Gore, McCain continued: ''And on the other side, saw three different people!''
McCain spoke of Bush in the same terms as he once spoke of himself, as a man ''fully prepared'' for the presidency, a man who would ''restore integrity and respect to the White House.''
Bush has deployed McCain on the trail several times, and spokesman Ari Fleischer said this week that McCain will be especially valuable in Michigan and New Hampshire. McCain will campaign with vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney today, and join Bush for a bus trip through Florida Wednesday.
But the many independent voters who gave his insurgent candidacy such momentum aren't necessarily willing to transfer their allegiance. And McCain has appeared to understand that, telling voters in Michigan and New Hampshire that he would respect a decision to vote for Gore.
There were no McCain holdouts in Manchester yesterday. The audience of several hundred hung on Bush's every word and lobbed him softball after softball during the question-and-answer time.
Asked about the senator's illness, one woman said testily, ''That's too bad, but we're here to see Bush.'' She said she had been a Bush supporter long before the February primary.
''We're strong McCain people,'' said Marilyn Stillman, who said that she and her husband, Ron, had since converted, by necessity, to Bush. ''We're very happy to vote for George Bush. We saw a lot of McCain in Amherst, and we thought, `Oh, a chance to see him once more!'''
But it wasn't to be.
Stillman said that Bush had given her a ''hot sweaty kiss'' at a Fourth of July parade - ''right on the lips!'' her husband added - and that ''it wasn't pleasant.'' But she was a good Republican, she said, and happy to go with Bush in November.
