Home Delivery

McCain can prepare for the big fight; Awaits Bush endorsement

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com

12:07 AM EST, March 5, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

DALLAS - A triumphant John McCain was headed to the White House Wednesday for an endorsement by President George W. Bush after easily winning all the delegates he needs to secure the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday.

McCain, 71, came one step closer to his dream of becoming president -- eight years after his failed attempt in 2000 -- when he swept Tuesday's primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.

After his visit with the president, McCain will go to the Republican National Committee to prepare to take on the eventual survivor of the protracted fight between Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"The contest begins tonight," a grinning McCain said Tuesday night to a cheering throng at a celebration here as he shared the stage with his wife, Cindy.

"It will have its ups and downs," he added. "But we will fight every minute of every day to make certain we have a government that is as capable, wise, brave and decent as the great people we serve."

McCain thanked voters -- Republicans, independents and "independent-minded Democrats" -- who helped him achieve "an accomplishment that once seemed to more than a few doubters unlikely," after his bid nearly failed last July.

And the new GOP standard-bearer laid out the outlines of his campaign for the November election in a bid to retain the White House for a party whose sitting president has very low popularity ratings among Americans.

McCain made it clear his unstinting support for the war in Iraq -- a force outside his control -- would be a centerpiece as he took a shot at the fight between Obama and Clinton over her vote for the Iraq war.

Saying it is "useless" to squabble over "decisions of the past," McCain said, "I will defend the decision to destroy Saddam Hussein's regime as I criticized the failed tactics."

He said the next president must explain how to bring the war to the "swiftest possible conclusion" without leaving genocide in Iraq, a destabilized Middle East and emboldened terrorists behind.

McCain also made it clear he would offer conservative, small-government, market-oriented policies in contrast with the Democrats' liberal, big-government approach.

He was greeted by a blast from the Democratic National Committee: "John McCain is out of touch with the issues facing Americans each day. Instead of offering solutions to the high cost of health care, help for the middle class or ideas to create jobs, McCain offers 100 years in Iraq and more of the same Bush budgets."

McCain also promised to continue the "town hall" approach that revived his campaign.

"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," he said.

Shortly before McCain made his speech, Obama called to congratulate him, an Obama spokesperson said, saying he "looks forward to facing him in the general election."

Also calling McCain was Mike Huckabee, who finally bowed out, conceding McCain had won the required 1,191 delegates.

"I fought the good fight," Huckabee said as he stood with his wife in Irving, Texas, calling his unexpected presidential run "the journey of a lifetime."

McCain aides said they had not heard from the other remaining GOP candidate, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

McCain aide Mark Salter said McCain will continue to campaign as if he's the underdog: "Whether we are, or whether we're the front-runner, we're going to act like we are."

Exit polls showed that McCain split conservative voters with Huckabee, many of whom wavered on how to vote.

Keith Herbert in Columbus, Ohio, and Letta Tayler in San Antonio, Texas, contributed to this story.