Wolf Blitzer later asked McCain directly if he wants to be president. McCain answered:

“I'd love to be president of the United States. The question is, is do I want to run for it?”

“I'm going to wait a couple years before making that decision. And there's a lot of considerations. One of them is, by the way, what happens in the 2006 election.”

“That's going to determine a lot about the direction of the Republican Party. If we increase our majority, which I hope we do, we're on the right track. If we don't, then obviously there's going to be some re-evaluation.”