Today, on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace interviewed Senator John McCain. Here is an excerpt from that interview (text of excerpt after the jump):

Yet Democrat politicians in Washington seem to like John McCain, as the following Mitt Romney campaign ad points out, and also their chances of defeating him in November:

Chris Wallace followed that interview with one of Senator Hillary Clinton who seemed to hope her sole opponent would soon be John McCain. Here is an excerpt (text of excerpt after the jump):

If John McCain and Hillary Clinton are the nominees, expect her to campaign saying he has so often agreed with Senate Democrats (i.e. immigration reform and drilling in ANWAR) and worked against President George W. Bush on issues (detainee rights and Guantanamo). Clinton will paint McCain as a liberal, point out that he has flip-flopped on immigration reform, and, by his own admission, the economy is not his strong suit.

She will likely ask why vote for McCain when she has been consistent on the issues and will bring a proven economic team back to the Oval Office? Much of that will stick because it is true.

On the other hand, you could vote for Mitt Romney in your primary and have a much clearer choice come November.

Hat tip to Sweetness & Light for the YouTube video.

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Text of interview excerpts and the links:

Chris Wallace, Fox New Sunday: Republican insiders, Senator, say that your big job going forward is to reach out to conservatives. Here’s what one McCain insider said the other day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Question: How much support do you think he has among the base of the Republican Party?

Roberta McCain, Senator John McCain’s mother: I don’t think he has any. I don’t know what the base of the Republican — maybe I don’t know enough about it, but I’ve not seen any help whatsoever.

Question: So can he then go on and become the nominee of this party?

Roberta McCain: Yes, I think holding their nose they’re going to have to take him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Wallace: Oh, boy, Senator. One, is your mother right? And two, how do you persuade conservatives to stop holding their nose?

Senator John McCain: (laughing at first) I love my mother dearly, more than anything in the world, but really, my mom is not a complete expert on this issue, and I love her and I love her candor, and she’s been a great, great asset, particularly whenever the age issue comes up. But look. We’re doing fine with the conservatives and the moderates and the liberals, if there are any. We’re doing fine. In Florida we got, as you know, a majority of the Republican vote. It was a Republican-only primary. And we’re doing well. As you mentioned, in all the polling across the board, the key is to unite the party. We have strong support from people like Jack Kemp and Phil Gramm. Steve Forbes signed up. We’re getting a lot of that kind of good support from across the party.

But we’ve got a lot of work to do. Chris, you know, everybody knows, primaries are tough. Primaries are very tough, and there’s a lot of strong feelings. But the job is — when the primaries are over, is to unite the entire party, and I’m confident I can do that.

I have a strong conservative record, and I’m proud of that record…

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Chris Wallace, Fox New Sunday: Senator, let me ask you about the horse race, though. Most of the national polls indicate you’re still leading but that Obama has closed the gap, has reduced your margin by a significant amount in the last couple of weeks. How do you explain that?

Senator Hillary Clinton: Oh, this is always going to be a close election, Chris. You know, we have two people left. Both of us have passionate supporters. I think it’s exciting. You know, we’re out here making our case. Obviously, I think I have the better case to go up against the Republican nominee, particularly if it is Senator McCain.