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When asked if he planned to help the Obama administration, McCain replied, "Obviously." After the meeting, the two issued a joint statement saying, "At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time." "It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family," they said. "We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy and protecting our nation's security." Obama and McCain clashed bitterly during the fall campaign over taxes, the Iraq war and ways to fix the ailing economy. Things got ugly at times, with McCain running ads comparing Obama to celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and raising questions about his relationship with a 1960s-era radical, William Ayers. Obama's campaign, meanwhile, labeled the 72-year-old McCain "erratic" and ran campaign ads deriding his economic views. The last time Obama and McCain issued a joint statement was Sept. 24, when they called for a bipartisan approach to the economic crisis. McCain quickly went his own way, however, announcing he was temporarily suspending his campaign and calling for a White House meeting that ended in chaos and hurt him in the polls
. On Election Night, McCain paid tribute to Obama's historic ascendancy as the nation's first black president. The two agreed that night, when McCain called Obama to concede, to meet after the election.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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