Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Called today again and was denied... again. I'll try one more time in a couple of days, and then call it quits. I started with the request to rearrange credit, then offered to close one of my other cards to no avail. He argued I've opened 3 other chase cards this year, 2 with Cap 1 and then applied for 5 other cards recently. He really pushed why I'd need so many cards. I was reluctant to even mention the word bonus, so told them I really wanted Mariott's card for the hotels, which he apparently didn't buy. If you don't mind, those of you folks, who did get it after a call - how did you answer that question?

Thanks again.