May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator John McCain ``categorically'' ruled out running for vice president with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in November.

``I've said categorically -- categorically -- I will not be vice president of the United States,'' McCain said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program today.

McCain, 67, of Arizona, has repeatedly denied any interest in serving as Kerry's running mate against President George W. Bush, a Republican whom McCain challenged for the party's nomination in 2000. McCain was responding to a report in the New York Times on Saturday that cited an unidentified Democratic Party official as saying Kerry ``continues to be interested'' in him.

``I'm a loyal Republican,'' McCain said today. ``I am supporting President Bush's re-election.''

Bush, 57, and Kerry, 60, are tied for voter support if the election were held now, according to a Newsweek magazine poll of 1,010 adults nationwide. Kerry would get 46 percent to Bush's 45 percent in a two-way race. The survey, conducted May 13 and 14, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

McCain and Kerry both are veterans of the Vietnam War and McCain calls Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, ``a close friend.'' In March, McCain said he would ``entertain'' an overture from Kerry based on that friendship. When Vice President Dick Cheney, 63, said in a March speech that Kerry had voted against defense programs in the Senate, McCain said he didn't believe Kerry is ``weak on defense.''

Potential Defense Secretaries

Kerry's search for a vice presidential candidate is being run by former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer James Johnson. Among those being considered are Senators John Edwards, 50, of North Carolina and Bob Graham, 67, of Florida, Representative Richard Gephardt, 63, of St. Louis, retired General Wesley Clark, 59, and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, 53, according to campaign and Democratic Party officials familiar with the selection process.

``As for the Kerry campaign, we're categorically declining to comment on the vice presidential selection process at all,'' spokesman David Wade said in Las Vegas, where Kerry was addressing the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Kerry last week said McCain would be on his list of potential defense secretaries, along with Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia and Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan. Warner, 77, McCain and Levin, 69, are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Speeches, Ads

Kerry has cited McCain in speeches, such as one he gave on the budget on April 7, in which he mentioned McCain four times. A television commercial being run by Kerry's campaign highlights his work with McCain on a commission of soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam War.

Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, also interviewed on the NBC program, said having McCain on the Democratic ticket with Kerry would help unify a ``divided country.''

The U.S. is politically polarized as shown by the 2000 presidential election, Biden, 61, said. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore, 56, won the national popular vote by 0.5 percentage points and lost the Electoral College count to Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount of ballots in Florida.

McCain said he agreed with Biden that ``there's too much partisanship in America'' and that has resulted in government gridlock.

``John could go a long way to heal that rift,'' Biden said. ``Do I think it's going to happen? No.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Sobczyk in Washington at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 16, 2004 16:40 EDT