Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., answered questions Tuesday during an editorial-board meeting at the Arizona Daily Star.

jill torrance / Arizona Daily Star

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In the five weeks since Election Day, John McCain has traveled the globe — Iraq, Afghanistan, India, a small country named Bhutan in South Asia. But the Arizona senator has also visited the Arizona-Mexico border and swung through Tucson.

He's consulted the president-elect, his former rival Barack Obama. But he's also squeezed in a lunch with the president of the University of Arizona.

McCain was on George Stephanopoulos' TV show Sunday. But by Tuesday he was at the Arizona Daily Star for an editorial board interview.

The former presidential candidate is now one of the most recognizable faces in the country. But he's also back to being Arizona's senior senator after a two-year campaign for president that he describes as "one heck of a ride."

Life has clearly changed. Two months ago McCain was the leader of his party, blitzing across the country from speech to speech, interview to interview. Watching polls. Trading barbs with Obama.

Now, McCain's one of a hundred in the Senate again, and he's striking a non-partisan tone — focusing on moving ahead, he says.

"I'm proud of the campaign we ran, and I think it was an honorable campaign," McCain told the Star on Tuesday. "And I think it's important that we all unite in these difficult times."

McCain said he's poured himself into work, particularly his role as ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he said rebuilding the economy and passing comprehensive immigration reform need to be priorities in Washington.

McCain said stimulating the economy will take a combination of programs to help homeowners with mortgage problems, and reforms to government spending, federal earmarks, Social Security and Medicare.

"It wasn't just the housing crisis," McCain said. "It was the housing crisis that was the fuse that ignited what was a volatile mixture of overspending, lack of exercising governmental responsibilities."

McCain was also critical of the Bush administration's handling of the $700 billion bailout package that he supported — and which became an issue in his campaign.

"It's been a great disappointment," McCain said. "I thought (Treasury Secretary Henry) Paulson's first priority was going to be to address the homeownership crisis. He has not done that."

"I still think comprehensive immigration reform is very necessary," McCain said.

But Obama needs to be the one to take the lead, he added.

"If President Obama wants it to be a highest priority, I'm prepared to join in," McCain said. "If not, I'm not going to go out there, out front, because it's obvious it won't succeed unless we get the administration in the lead."

McCain, who was criticized for changing his position on immigration during the campaign, said such a package should include securing the border, a guest worker program and a path to citizenship.

"A lot of people said I changed on immigration reform," McCain said. "I didn't. But I learned that when we failed twice (on immigration legislation) that the American people want to be assured that our borders will be secured."

"We could go back again and fail again, but I'm not sure that would be a productive use of our time," he said.

On one of the more politically charged elements of the immigration debate, McCain suggested it would be impossible to deport everyone who's in the country illegally.

"If somebody's been here for a long period of time and been good citizens, they've worked hard in their community and at their job — look, it's reality and there's not 12 million pairs of handcuffs in America," he said.

McCain called the campaign "a great experience" that "certainly had its ups and downs."

He recalled that, when his campaign appeared to be in turmoil during the Republican primaries, he wasn't even mentioned as a candidate on television anymore.

With few campaign resources, McCain started flying Southwest Airlines, he remembered.

"I was group C, so I had a middle seat," he said. "And then to win the nomination — it certainly was one heck of a ride."