U.S. Sen. John McCain on Wednesday called on all Georgia veterans to help send David Perdue to Washington to help fight President Barack Obama.

McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, said fellow Republican Perdue will help the party claim a majority in the Senate to counter Obama’s failed policies on the economy and national security.

“David can bring to Washington an outsider’s way of looking at the problems and challenges we face,” McCain said.

McCain and Perdue are not in lockstep on every issue, however. Perdue has slammed his Democratic opponent, Michelle Nunn, for supporting an immigration bill that McCain helped sponsor.

Asked about those remarks afterward, McCain at first said new concerns over undocumented children crossing the border and the concern over terrorists sneaking into the country means the bill needs revision.

But in a brief interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McCain said “of course not” when asked if his bill amounted to “amnesty” for illegal immigrants as Perdue has claimed.

“Of course not,” McCain said. “If you call a 10-year path, thousands of dollars in fees, paying back taxes, learning English all those things, that does not fit the definition of amnesty in my view.

“But I understand now, especially in my home state of Arizona, that these children coming, and now with the threat of ISIS … that we have to have a secure border.”

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