McCain, Lott Find Common Ground on Iraq; Upstage Daschle with reporters.(NATION)

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Byline: Dave Boyer, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Within an hour of President Bush's speech to the United Nations on Iraq last week, the unlikely Republican team of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott and Sen. John McCain was on the airwaves to support Mr. Bush.

The pairing of Mr. Lott, a Bush loyalist, and Mr. McCain, a media favorite who frequently opposes the White House, was so irresistible that many reporters walked out of a news conference in progress with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat.

"I'm losing my audience," Mr. Daschle said in the midst of his session at the Capitol. "Was it something I said?"

The Republicans' …