McCain: ‘I Didn’t Get Along With Santorum in Senate’

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is backing Mitt Romney for president, makes no bones about the fact that he didn’t have an amicable relationship with Rick Santorum when he represented Pennsylvania in the Senate, The Hill reports.

"I'm not sure that he's too extreme, but I did not get along with him when I was in the United States Senate," McCain said on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" Wednesday. McCain said he experienced "strong differences" with Santorum, particularly over Santorum’s support for earmarks and pork barrel spending, such as the "Bridge to Nowhere."

McCain said, "My favorite was, I think, we spent about $50,000 one time to study the effect on the ozone layer of flatulence in cows. Now, I always wondered about the testing procedures."

Asked by Leno how he escaped that duty, McCain replied, "Unemployment would have to be awfully high."

McCain said these projects resulted solely from a senator’s influence rather than from a real need. “It's a gateway drug to corruption," he said.

Santorum hasn’t exactly been complimentary to McCain either recently, The Hill reports. The candidate said last week that while he now regrets endorsing Romney for president in 2008, he went for Romney because the alternative was McCain.