Victorious McCain Puts Focus on November
Sen. John McCain of Arizona swept all four Republican primaries Tuesday, winning enough delegates to guarantee his party's nomination.
After the results were in, McCain quickly told supporters that "the most important part" of the campaign now lies ahead: making a respectful but convincing case that he should be the next president.
"So stand up with me, my friends," McCain urged. "Stand up and fight for America — for her strength, her ideals, and her future. The contest begins tonight."
Wednesday, McCain will join President Bush for a White House lunch that will double as a show of support for the next Republican standard-bearer.
McCain says he's ready to challenge the Democrats on issues of trade, health care, and especially the war in Iraq. His steadfast defense of the war and the troop surge nearly sank his campaign last summer.
But Phyllis Henry, a housewife in Middletown, Ohio, says she's glad McCain stuck to his guns.
"He has the courage to stand by his convictions," Henry said. "To me that's one of the best qualities of any leader — not to stick their finger in the wind and say this one week and something else the next week. He's not going to do that."
Henry calls herself a moderate Republican and says she's proud that "her candidate" got the party's nod.
McCain had trouble early on winning more conservative voters. But he's making gains with the party's right wing.
Retired Texas insurance man Mark Herman says he and his fellow conservatives will fall in line.
"What choice does a conservative have?" Herman asked. "Obama, who's a socialist? Or Hillary? Or McCain? There's no choice. Now we'll fight among ourselves to get it settled. But after the dust settles, in a national primary, they're going to vote for McCain."
What little dust was left in the GOP settled last night. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee dropped out of the race, after making a congratulatory call to McCain.
"I extended to him not only my congratulations, but my commitment to him and to the party to do everything possible to unite our party, but more importantly to unite our country, so we can be the best nation we can be," Huckabee said.
McCain's lock on the nomination caps a stunning comeback. The candidate was all but written off last summer, but persevered, riding his "Straight Talk Express" bus to more than l00 town hall meetings in New Hampshire alone. He promises to keep that up in the general election.
"I'll travel across the country in cities and rural areas, in communities of all ethnic backgrounds and income levels, offering my ideas and listening to the concerns and advice of Americans," McCain pledged.
McCain still faces big challenges. Chief among those is the sagging economy, according to political analyst Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College. Exit polls showed the economy to be the number one concern in Ohio and Texas.
"The history of American elections is very clear: the electorate punishes the party in power when there's a recession," Pitney said. "So if you really want to predict the outcome of the election, don't look on the political page. Look on the business page."
With almost two out of three Americans saying the country is on the wrong track, McCain is defending the president's tax cuts. His approach to health care is similar to the Bush administration's stance. And he is still fully behind an unpopular war.
Advisers say McCain will make it clear he's not a carbon copy of President Bush — but that will have to wait until after lunch Wednesday.