WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. John McCain allowed a glimmer of hope today for Democrats fantasizing about a bipartisan dream team to defeat President Bush.

McCain said he would consider the unorthodox step of running for vice president on the Democrats' ticket — in the unlikely event he received such an offer from the presidential candidate.

"John Kerry is a close friend of mine. We have been friends for years," McCain said when pressed to squelch speculation about a Kerry-McCain ticket. "Obviously I would entertain it."

But he emphasized how unlikely the whole idea was.

"It's impossible to imagine the Democratic Party seeking a pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist, deficit hawk," the senior U.S. senator from Arizona told ABC's "Good Morning America" during an interview about illegal use of steroids. "They'd have to be taking some steroids, I think, in order to let that happen."

McCain gained a reputation as a party maverick who appeals to independent voters during his 2000 race against Bush for the Republican nomination. This year, he has campaigned for the president and said he would continue to do so.

Unlike some other Republican senators, he hasn't railed against Kerry, a fellow Vietnam veteran. McCain called the Kerry-Bush contest "the nastiest campaign so far that we have seen" and said he preferred campaigning for candidates instead of against their opponents.

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