McCain says hopes to support bailout plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Sunday he hoped to support a $700 billion Wall Street bailout package that has been brokered by the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress.

"Hopefully yes," the Arizona senator said when asked whether he would support the deal.

"This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with," he said on the ABC television network. "The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option."

McCain said the principles that he had laid out for such a deal had been met, including taxpayer protection, an oversight body, and provisions that prevented excessive compensation for corporate chief executives.

McCain said he would consider another stimulus package to help the economy but indicated the last one had not been very successful.

"I'll be glad to look at anything to help our economy," he said. "We did a stimulus package a few months ago as you well know. It had very little beneficial effect."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Editing by Doina Chiacu)