If McCain is to get the Republican nomination for the 2008 election, he’ll need the support of President George Bush.

Recently, NewsMax reported that President Bush’s top media adviser had signed on with McCain for his expected 2008 run. (See: Bush's Consultant Commits to Back McCain in 2008.)

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes that before the adviser, Mark McKinnon, announced his support of McCain, he got wind of the McCain-Jeb possibility.

Dionne says "a shrewd and loyally Democratic political operative with personal ties to McCain" told him that choosing Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as his running mate could be the key to McCain’s success.

McCain was estranged from George W. Bush after the Arizona senator ran against him in the 2000 primaries. But then in 2004, McCain brushed aside unofficial offers from John Kerry to run as his vice presidential candidate, and gave a speech at the Republican National Convention that was strongly supportive of Bush’s policies in Iraq.

And Bush would like to hand over power to a Republican, like McCain, who is committed to his Iraq policy.

Other front-runners for the Republican nomination are Rudy Giuliani and Condi Rice. But Washington Republicans don't fully trust Rudy – who had a history of bucking the party as mayor of New York.

Condi Rice is said to be preferred by the White House as Bush's successor. But so far, Rice has indicated she won't run.

That leaves McCain.

"The president could well come to see McCain as the only Republican with a chance to push a Republican era forward,” says Dionne. "McCain, in turn, knows that his only way around the Republican right is to run with Bush’s open blessing, if not his outright endorsement.”

Bush’s brother could be the "deal-closer," according to Dionne. "If picking Jeb is the price of winning over George W., McCain will pay it."

Editor's note:
Breaking: Dick Morris Says It’s Condi vs. Hillary in 2008 – Click Here Now
The Stunning Truth About Hillary in Ed Klein’s New Book – Check out our FREE offer!
Sir John Templeton warns of market, housing crash – Read More Here