A day after GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney won three key primaries, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) urged Rick Santorum to step down on "CBS This Morning" with Charlie Rose.
"It's clear [Romney's] the nominee," McCain said Wednesday, adding, "I also hope that [former PA Senator] Rick Santorum will understand that it's time for a graceful exit."
When asked who should be chosen as Romney's running mate, McCain initially joked, "I think it should be Sarah Palin."
McCain then clarified "I think we have some very qualified candidates," naming Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Christie (NJ Governor), Bobby Jindal (LA Governor), and Mitch Daniels (IN Governor) as potential Vice Presidential candidates.
McCain also touched on the heated beltway debate currently underway on the Supreme Court ruling of the Obama administration's health care law, expected to be announced in June. This week, the President came out in support of the law, saying several times that an overturn of the law would be akin to the Court engaging in "judicial activism."
"Apparently the President doesn't read the Constitution as some of us do," McCain remarked, adding Obama should, as a former teacher of Constitutional Law, support the decisions of the Court makes regardless of political leanings.
"I thought that their decision on Citizens United...was terrible, outrageous. I'm still outraged. But I certainly never challenged their decision to do it," McCain said.
McCain also lambasted the President for his open mic remarks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which Obama said he could be more "flexible" on international missile defense after the elections.
The Senator's remarks come a day after the Romney camp saw wins in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Although Romney is still far below the needed delegate count for an automatic nomination (1,144), among most Republican strategists, his last three wins have catapulted him into nomination status.
Santorum said this week he would wait for his home state of Pennsylvania's primary this month before making a decision on the future of his campaign. The delegate count currently stands at 278 for Santorum, 135 for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 51 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and 655 for Romney.
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