NASHVILLE — A number of prominent Tennessee conservatives say they can back presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, but some note it will require more than a little nose holding in the voting booth.

Nashville-based conservative talk radio host Steve Gill, a sometimes-harsh critic of Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., said GOP voters face an interesting challenge in deciding whom to support.

“It’s easy to say in February, ‘I’m not going to vote for the guy.’ .... It’s harder to do in early November,” he said.

Mr. Gill said his support for Mr. McCain would be based primarily on the former Vietnam POW’s support for the war on terror and Supreme Court nominations.

“I think this is what will ultimately get conservatives to hold their nose and vote for him,” Mr. Gill said.

Family Action Council of Tennessee President David Fowler summed up the challenges maverick McCain has in making his case to conservatives: His previous opposition to President Bush’s tax cuts, his push for providing a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and the political advertising restrictions contained in the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform law.

“I think McCain exposed well his disdain for evangelicals a few years ago, and I think that’s his true sentiment,” said Mr. Fowler, a former state senator from Signal Mountain.

Mr. Fowler said he is more comfortable with the positions of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, and former Michigan Gov. Mitt Romney, who ended his presidential campaign Thursday. But Mr. Fowler said he ultimately could back Sen. McCain if he does indeed emerge as the GOP nominee.

He noted the senator “understands defense issues well” and “is opposed to abortion.”

But Sen. McCain’s saving grace for Mr. Fowler and other conservatives appears to be that he would nominate more conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court than either Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama would.

“That would probably be the issue by which I support him on,” Mr. Fowler said.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., a conservative who like many Tennessee Republicans backed favorite son Fred Thompson’s bid until it fizzled, said he plans to “support Sen. McCain wholeheartedly.”

“I know there’s some discontent, and I know that it’s an uphill battle after eight years of a Republican administration,” he said. “But there’s an awful lot at stake.”

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., another well-known conservative, “will support the eventual nominee,” said spokesman Claude Chaffin.

State Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, supports Mr. Huckabee, who won the Southern states of Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas in last week’s primaries. Mr. Huckabee is continuing his campaign and on Friday won the endorsement of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who has said he never will vote for Sen. McCain.

Tennessee Right to Life President Brian Harris, whose group continues to back Mr. Huckabee, acknowledged the delegates Sen. McCain has amassed will be a “hard hurdle to overcome. But I will be the last to count him (Huckabee) out.”

Still, he said, the Right to Life group “will support either candidate as the ultimate GOP nominee.

“If it comes down to it, we would accept the lesser of the two evils,” Mr. Harris said.