Spring Break
Once written off, McCain caps comeback with GOP nomination
Mar. 5, 2008
Matt Stearns - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
DALLAS _ Eight years after his first bid for the White House ended in a painful defeat and nine months after his second appeared to have sputtered to an embarrassing end, John McCain capped a spectacular political comeback Tuesday with a four-state sweep that clinched the Republican presidential nomination.
Victories in the Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont primaries put McCain, the presumptive nominee for weeks, officially over the top in the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. His one remaining significant opponent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, dropped out and said he'd do "whatever he can" to help the Arizona senator.
McCain now turns his focus to unifying and inspiring his party, raising money and honing a general-election campaign theme. He has the luxury of doing all that as the Democrats continue their lengthy tussle for a nominee.
"Now we begin the most important part of our campaign: to make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president, given the alternatives presented by our friends in the other party, are in the best interests of the country we love," McCain said.
McCain is to fly to Washington Wednesday morning, where he'll have lunch with President Bush in the White House. Afterward, they'll make a joint appearance in the Rose Garden, where McCain will receive the endorsement of the man who vanquished him eight years ago in a bitter race.
At McCain's election-night party in a hotel ballroom here, a poster was unveiled with the number "1,191," the number of delegates needed for the nomination and a signal that, at long last, it was McCain's night.
"I want to thank all of you here, and all the Republicans, independents and independent-thinking Democrats in all parts of this great country who supported our campaign for the nomination and have brought us across the finish line first _ an accomplishment that once seemed to more than a few doubters unlikely," McCain told a ballroom of screaming supporters, a grin flashing on his face.
Victories in the Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont primaries put McCain, the presumptive nominee for weeks, officially over the top in the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. His one remaining significant opponent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, dropped out and said he'd do "whatever he can" to help the Arizona senator.
McCain now turns his focus to unifying and inspiring his party, raising money and honing a general-election campaign theme. He has the luxury of doing all that as the Democrats continue their lengthy tussle for a nominee.
"Now we begin the most important part of our campaign: to make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president, given the alternatives presented by our friends in the other party, are in the best interests of the country we love," McCain said.
McCain is to fly to Washington Wednesday morning, where he'll have lunch with President Bush in the White House. Afterward, they'll make a joint appearance in the Rose Garden, where McCain will receive the endorsement of the man who vanquished him eight years ago in a bitter race.
At McCain's election-night party in a hotel ballroom here, a poster was unveiled with the number "1,191," the number of delegates needed for the nomination and a signal that, at long last, it was McCain's night.
"I want to thank all of you here, and all the Republicans, independents and independent-thinking Democrats in all parts of this great country who supported our campaign for the nomination and have brought us across the finish line first _ an accomplishment that once seemed to more than a few doubters unlikely," McCain told a ballroom of screaming supporters, a grin flashing on his face.
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