PHOENIX — John McCain's complex relationship with President Bush can be summed up with a simple saying: can't live with him, can't live without him.

The president's own popularity is bottom-of-the-barrel low. Even allies privately fret that he's an albatross for the Republican looking to succeed him.

But Bush also is beloved among GOP loyalists. He's a proven campaigner who can raise serious money. Those are huge assets as Arizona Sen. McCain works to rally the Republican base and fill his coffers while facing the Democrats' unrivaled enthusiasm and record-breaking fundraising.

The president and his would-be successor appeared together Tuesday for the first time in nearly three months at an event that epitomized both elements of their tricky alliance — a fundraiser with GOP faithful at a private home, without the media to document it.

By the McCain campaign's own planning, the only time Bush and McCain were captured on camera was after the event — too late for most evening newscasts — on the airport tarmac in the shadow of Air Force One, just before the president departed.

All smiles, Bush and McCain shook hands and then waved at reporters but kept a safe distance and spurned efforts to get them to talk. Bush then boarded the plane as the senator and his wife, Cindy, watched from the ground. The goodbye lasted less than a minute.

McCain's fundraisers typically are closed to the press; the White House deferred to the campaign. Tuesday's fundraiser at the home of prominent Republican Jack Londen and his wife, Lynn, raised an estimated $3 million for the Republican National Committee.

Democratic opponent Barack Obama, an Illinois senator poised to become the Democratic nominee, got in a jab in advance.

"No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen, hat-in-hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years," Obama chided while campaigning in Nevada. "But the question for the American people is: Do we want to continue George Bush's policies?"

For months now, Democrats have portrayed McCain as an extension of Bush. They have argued that McCain offers the same policies, despite his willingness to break with the Republican Party on a range of issues. And, they ran ads showing footage of Bush and McCain embracing each other in 2004, including one that said: "If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America's future?"