MORE COVERAGE Text of McCain's speech More about John McCain CAMPAIGN ALSO-RANS Candidates who have dropped out of the presidential race: REPUBLICANS: John Kasich (July 14, 1999) Lamar Alexander (Aug. 16) Dan Quayle (Sept. 27) Elizabeth Dole (Oct. 20) Orrin Hatch (Jan. 26, 2000) Gary Bauer (Feb. 4) Steve Forbes (Feb. 10) John McCain (March 9) DEMOCRAT: Bill Bradley (March 9)

After absorbing a Super Tuesday drubbing by Bush, the Arizona senator said GOP voters had spoken, ``and I respect their decision. I am no longer an active candidate for my party's nomination for president.''

McCain pointedly offered Bush his ``best wishes'' but not his endorsement after a bitter campaign that pitted a self-styled political reformer against the Texas governor and his allies in the GOP establishment. McCain rode waves of independents and Democrats to victories in New Hampshire and Michigan, posing an unexpected threat to Bush.

Bush, campaigning in Colorado, congratulated his former rival ``for fighting the good fight'' and he said he appreciated McCain's kind words.

The governor said he had ``a very short'' telephone conversation with McCain, but he didn't ask the Arizona senator for his endorsement yet. ``I intend to talk with him at his convenience,'' Bush told reporters. ``... There needs to be some time to settle out. John needed some time to think.''

In Austin, Texas, home of Bush's campaign, his aides were contacting McCain intermediaries to determine how the governor should proceed with the fallen rival. Bush wants McCain's endorsement to help woo independent voters in the fall, but his aides are not directly asking for one, according to a senior Bush adviser.

The adviser said McCain's team has assured them he won't bolt the GOP and has signaled that he won't make demands in exchange for an endorsement. Bush's aides have been told that McCain wants to be a ``resource'' for the GOP campaign, but they McCain wants to be a ``resource'' for the GOP campaign, but they don't yet know what would convince McCain to back the governor.

Independent of the Bush campaign effort, 1996 GOP nominee Bob Dole has contacted at least one McCain intermediary and asked to talk to his former colleague, a GOP source said. McCain campaigned with Dole in 1996.

In the end, Bush's organization was too much to overcome, and McCain's message got muddled in a debate over negative campaign tactics, his advisers said.

Standing alongside his wife, McCain addressed reporters shortly after Bill Bradley quit the Democratic presidential campaign, setting the stage for a fall showdown between Bush and Vice President Al Gore.

While Bradley made a clean break, the Arizona senator opted to put his campaign on hold in order to leave his options open. Aides said the tactic gives him leverage against Bush as he urges the GOP nominee to adopt his political reform agenda.

Advisers have said McCain's options include barnstorming the country to promote campaign finance reform and running for president as a third-party candidate. He has ruled out bolting the GOP in the past, and said today, ``I love my party. It is my home.''

He also pledged to ``take our crusade back to the Senate.''

``I will keep trying to force open doors where there are walls ... be they walls of cynicism, or intolerance, or walls raised by self-interested elite who would exclude your voice from the highest councils of government,'' McCain said.

McCain dropped out after winning seven states and 231 delegates. Bush has 617 of the 1,034 delegates needed for the nomination.

``I hoped our campaign would be a force for change in the Republican Party. I believe we have set a course that will ultimately prevail in making our party as big as the country we serve,'' McCain said.

He made his announcement on the top of a hill with a stunning snowcapped mountain range behind him.

``A majority of Republican voters made clear that their preference for president is Governor Bush,'' McCain said. ``I respect their decision.''

``I am no longer an active candidate for my party's nomination.''

McCain, who conducted rolling news conferences aboard his ``Straight Talk Express'' campaign bus, kept things brief today. He pulled up in his bus, delivered the remarks and returned to the bus, taking no questions.

McCain had huddled with senior strategists and major financial backers at his mountain cabin here to assess the situation.

It didn't take long for strategists to conclude that soldiering on made little sense, and within a few hours Wednesday the campaign schedule was scrapped. Campaign events in Colorado and Illinois were canceled, and aides said McCain had no public events after today's announcement.

Most of McCain's senior aides had been urging him to withdraw, saying Bush had built an almost impossible lead in the delegate count. Any doubt of that was erased in this week's round of primaries, aides argued.

There are disagreements, however, about how to handle the exit strategy.

Some have urged McCain to launch a third-party bid, pointing to his strength with independents in the primary season. McCain has consistently ruled that out, arguing he's a ``loyal Reagan Republican.''

McCain had made it clear that his bid to reshape the Republican party would continue, and much of the campaign discussion focused on how to gain leverage with Bush.

That explained the lack of a Bush endorsement and the refusal to completely rule out a third party bid. Aides said McCain has generated enthusiasm on the campaign trail, and wants to translate that into changes in the GOP.

``I can't conceive of John jumping from the Republican Party, but I certainly can conceive of John being pushed into it,'' said political director John Weaver. Weaver has been among a minority advocating McCain stepping away from the party to continue a run for the White House.

A key to McCain's plans will be Bush's reaction. Despite defeating McCain soundly, Bush presumably would want to reach out to independent voters who rallied to McCain's cause and that could require some degree of accommodation.

The primary campaign has been bruising and there's been little effort to seek middle ground so far, but political realities could alter that.

McCain fared poorly in this week's giant round of primaries, and Bush began to pile up a big lead in delegates. Things would only get worse for McCain as next week includes Florida and Texas, both states with governors named Bush and huge delegate totals.