John McCain, who's struggling to win over conservatives who find him insufficiently hard line on immigration, is now saying he's open to supporting a measure proposed by conservative GOP Rep. Mike Pence that would require illegal immigrants to return home before applying for U.S. citizenship, today's New York Times reports.

"Mr. McCain has previously favored legislation that would allow most illegal immigrants to become citizens without leaving the country," the paper says, adding that he'd formed an alliance last year with Senator Ted Kennedy on another immigration bill that stalled in Congress. "Mr. McCain’s aides said his identification with Mr. Kennedy accounted for much of his political problem on the issue with conservatives."