Republican presidential candidate John McCain has landed a big fish with this afternoon's endorsement of former Senate President Ted Gatsas.

   NH Prime Cuts confirmed Gatsas is the ``major'' endorsement McCain will introduce upon his arrival in a few hours at Wiggins Airways.

   McCain has also earned the backing of State Senate Dean Sheila Roberge of Bedford who was torn between Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and McCain.

  ``You can trust him to do what he says and he's got a lot of experience,'' Roberge said of McCain.

   She's in her 12th term in the Senate, a tested, anti-abortion leader in the Legislature but an independent activist who plays her cards deliberately.

   Gatsas, the Senate Republcian leader, has been a free agent throughout the 2008 cycle and at various times had been rumored moving to Romney where several of his Senate colleagues have landed or to Huckabee who has the support of Hudson Republican Sen. Robert Clegg.