WASHINGTON – President Bush prodded conservatives to embrace Sen. John McCain on Friday, using a hero’s welcome at a gathering of conservatives to give an apparent stamp of approval to the likely GOP nominee.

The same influential gathering, the Conservative Political Action Conference, greeted McCain with some boos and jeers a day earlier.

McCain acknowledged some of the long-standing sore points, but some key conservatives said he didn’t go far enough to win them over because he failed to embrace their views or apologize.

The Bush imprimatur could help overcome mistrust and encourage the grassroots activism the McCain camp would need to win in the fall.

“We’ve had good debates, and soon we’ll have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond,” Bush said Friday, implicitly referring to McCain as a conservative.

He didn’t mention McCain by name. And he didn’t address the litany of concerns that many conservative harbor about the presumptive nominee, including difference on immigration and his opposition to a constitutional ban on gay marriage, and to the tax cuts Bush proposed in 2001 and 2003. But with Mitt Romney out of the race – he made his announcement at CPAC two hours before McCain spoke – McCain faces no serious obstacles.

Bush’s statements Friday fell short of an endorsement. And spokesman Scott Stanzel insisted afterward that the president remains “studiously neutral” in the GOP nominating contest, because “there are several candidates in the race. We have a vigorous campaign going on.”

In fact, the only other contender with enough delegates to have even a remote mathematical possibility of winning is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and he has far fewer delegates than Romney.

Bush and McCain have had a rocky relationship dating back to their 2000 GOP primary faceoff, which turned bitter in 2000. But McCain campaigned for the president’s re-election in 2004 and has been a vigorous supporter of the Iraq war.

Bush’s use of the CPAC platform was especially potent, as he remains popular among conservative activists. The crowd chanted “Four More Years!” and gave him repeated ovations.

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AP-NY-02-08-08 1903EST