McCain looking ahead to general election
Mar. 4, 2008
Tom Brune - NewsdayIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
WACO, Texas _ John McCain made it clear Monday he is raring to go on his general election campaign _ he's already stepping into disputes between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton _ but first he must try to finish off GOP rival Mike Huckabee Tuesday.
After weeks of Huckabee hanging on and slowing down McCain's repositioning for November, McCain and his aides say he will finally collect the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the presidential nomination in Tuesday's four primaries.
But since there is no official delegate count, no one but Huckabee can decide if and when he will quit.
"Obviously we are guardedly confident that we can get a sufficient number of delegates with victories in Vermont, Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas tomorrow and move on to the general campaign," McCain said Monday morning at a news conference in Phoenix.
"But we still respect Governor Huckabee's right to remain in the race," McCain added, "as long he feels it's necessary to do so."
Yet in the news conference and later in a town-hall meeting here at the Heart of Texas hall, McCain never mentioned Huckabee again, focusing instead on positions he will take in a general election against either Obama or Clinton.
McCain attacked Obama, for example, for suggesting he would unilaterally renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States, saying that raised serious consequences for U.S. trade and defense.
But McCain raised the starkest contrast with his potential Democratic rivals by stepping into the intramural fight between them raised by Clinton in a television ad that asks who is better equipped to handle a crisis phone call in the middle of the night.
McCain said it would be him.
"Well, I think many Americans, when they consider the three of us, I would believe that my knowledge and experience and background clearly indicates that if the phone rang at 3 a.m. in the White House and I was the one to answer it, I would be the one most qualified to exercise the kind of judgment necessary to address a national security crisis," he said.
After weeks of Huckabee hanging on and slowing down McCain's repositioning for November, McCain and his aides say he will finally collect the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the presidential nomination in Tuesday's four primaries.
But since there is no official delegate count, no one but Huckabee can decide if and when he will quit.
"Obviously we are guardedly confident that we can get a sufficient number of delegates with victories in Vermont, Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas tomorrow and move on to the general campaign," McCain said Monday morning at a news conference in Phoenix.
"But we still respect Governor Huckabee's right to remain in the race," McCain added, "as long he feels it's necessary to do so."
Yet in the news conference and later in a town-hall meeting here at the Heart of Texas hall, McCain never mentioned Huckabee again, focusing instead on positions he will take in a general election against either Obama or Clinton.
McCain attacked Obama, for example, for suggesting he would unilaterally renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States, saying that raised serious consequences for U.S. trade and defense.
But McCain raised the starkest contrast with his potential Democratic rivals by stepping into the intramural fight between them raised by Clinton in a television ad that asks who is better equipped to handle a crisis phone call in the middle of the night.
McCain said it would be him.
"Well, I think many Americans, when they consider the three of us, I would believe that my knowledge and experience and background clearly indicates that if the phone rang at 3 a.m. in the White House and I was the one to answer it, I would be the one most qualified to exercise the kind of judgment necessary to address a national security crisis," he said.
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