Arizona Senator John McCain took to the campaign trail Friday seeking to boost the prospects of his former rival for the 2008 presidential nomination.
McCain, who has endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination this year, said that Romney has a record of cutting pork barrel spending projects.
Romney's main opponent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, McCain said, lacks credibility when it comes to cutting spending.
"You cannot call yourself a fiscal conservative if you engaged in this corrupt process of earmarking," McCain said. "That is what Newt Gingrich turned into an art form."
He added, "I guarantee you, Mitt Romney will ask [for], and I hope receive a line-item veto so he can veto every single one of these pork barrel projects. He did it as Governor of Massachusetts and he will do it as President of the United States of America."
McCain said Romney has become a person with great potential as the next President, adding that he is convinced that the nation needs a new President.
And while McCain's attacks on earmarks were familiar territory for the Arizona Senator, he also debuted a new line of attack on Gingrich, who recently proposed setting up a permanent colony on the moon.
"I think we ought to send Newt Gingrich to the moon and Mitt Romney to the White House," he said.
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