Sen. John McCain says he has no intention of abandoning the Republican Party, despite once again angering conservatives with his vote on health care and helping generate a new round of inside-the-Beltway speculation that he might quit the GOP.

In a July 30 article, Politico Magazine floated the idea with the headline: “McCain Once Almost Left the GOP. What About Now?”

“It will be a cold day in Gila Bend,” McCain, R-Ariz., told The Arizona Republic when asked Thursday about such speculation.

In the Politico piece, author Philip Shenon quotes former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., as saying McCain nearly turned independent in 2001, following his loss to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries. At that time, one Republican defection would have shifted control of the Senate to the Democrats.

“I think it’s unlikely he’d do it now, but John is an independent thinker,” Daschle told Politico Magazine.