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Morning News

Election 2000: John McCain's POW Cell Mate Rep. Sam Johnson Endorses George W. Bush

Aired February 18, 2000 - 10:02 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: McCain has sought and received enthusiastic support from a particular element of the voting public: the military. But one former Air Force pilot who actually shared a prison cell with McCain in Hanoi is now going to battle against him.

CNN national correspondent Gene Randall has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GENE RANDALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A key to John McCain's hopes for a GOP primary win in South Carolina could be his appeal to a large community of military veterans. McCain's history as a prisoner of war in Vietnam offers a powerful bid for support. But listen to this member of Congress from Texas. He, too, was a POW in Hanoi with John McCain.

REP. SAM JOHNSON (R), TEXAS: Johnny and I spent the last three years -- or, last year and a half in the same room over there, so I got to know him pretty well, and he and I are friends today. But on the issues, we disagree frequently.

RANDALL: Hard-rock Republican conservative Sam Johnson, as a career Air Force fighter pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent the next seven years in captivity, three of them in solitary confinement. He recounts the horrors in his book, "Captive Warriors." But instead of supporting a friend who understands better than most what he went through, Sam Johnson is campaigning for George W. Bush for president. Why? He charges McCain is too liberal.

JOHNSON: Well, I'm going to South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.

RANDALL: Today, Johnson will be on Bush's campaign bus for a series of joint appearances. And by the time he left for South Carolina on Thursday, he had already adopted Bush's assault on McCain's public record.

JOHNSON: I have known both John McCain and George W. Bush for quite a while, and frankly I just think John, since he's been in the Senate especially, seems to say one thing and do something else.

RANDALL (on camera): John McCain's reaction to all this in South Carolina: quote, "my friendship with Sam Johnson means more to me than an endorsement," unquote.

Gene Randall, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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