The millionaire magazine publisher threw his suppport to Bush during an appearance with the Texas governor in Forbes' home state of New Jersey.

The endorsement came hours after Bush reached out to resolve another lingering division from the primary campaign by calling John McCain in Washington to discuss a face-to-face meeting.

McCain aides said it was premature to discuss a formal endorsement, but Forbes dropped all of his previous reservations about Bush during a speech to a group of Somerset County Republicans gathered in a VFW hall.

"As the American people are learing and will learn, he is a good man," Forbes said. "He has been tested -- I tried to test him -- and he emerged the stronger for it."

Smiling and turning to Forbes, Bush lauded the publisher for his devotion to his family and ideas that have included tax cuts and the use of personal savings plans to support retirees.

"He reminds us that ideas make good politics," Bush said. "I appreciate his interjection of a lot of really good ideas."

Bush is now being challenged for the presidency by Vice President Al Gore, who himself beat former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley for the Democratic nomination.

Forbes' high-water mark in the 2000 primaries was in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, where his appeal to conservative voters on social issues helped him finish second behind Bush. He dropped out of the race on Feb. 10 after finishing third in Delaware -- and after spending $38 million of his personal fortune on his campaign. During his first run in 1996, he had spent $37 million.

"We were nosed out by a landslide," he told reporters as he exited the campaign.

Forbes was the ninth of ten candidates to drop out of the Republican race. A little more than a month later, he was followed by McCain, Bush's closest challenger.

Since then, Bush has picked up the endorsements of most of his former rivals, most prominently former Cabinet secretary Elizabeth Dole, who has joined Bush on the stump.

Entering the primary season, the Bush team was concerned about a challenge from Forbes, who was accused by some fellow Republicans of weakening the party's 1996 nominee, Bob Dole, with withering TV ads.

Forbes was sharply critical of Bush's five-year, $483 billion tax plan as well as his allowance for abortion in the case of rape, incest or endangerment of the mother, but he never mounted the full-scale assault the Bush team had feared.