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McCain claims he's GOP nominee after Wisconsin win

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | reid.epstein@newsday.com

February 20, 2008

John McCain won a resounding GOP presidential primary victory in Wisconsin last night and promptly pronounced himself the party's nominee.

"I will be our party's nominee for president of the United States," he told a crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

McCain now holds an insurmountable lead in the delegate count, according to The Associated Press. The AP's count heading into last night, when 59 GOP delegates were up for grabs in Wisconsin and Washington state, showed McCain with 908 delegates to Huckabee's 245.

It takes 1,191 votes to clinch the party's nomination, a number Huckabee would fall at least 200 short of even if he won every remaining unpledged delegate, an extremely unlikely scenario given that every remaining contest except Vermont allocates delegates proportionally.

Despite this, Huckabee has pledged to remain in the race until McCain clinches the nomination. He campaigned lightly in Wisconsin, leaving the state Saturday to make a paid speech in the Cayman Islands. And while conservative radio hosts have helped him by attacking McCain, Wisconsin's most influential conservative radio host has been friendly to McCain.

McCain also won the primary in Washington state, but delegate totals there were unavailable.

McCain and Huckabee now head to Texas and Ohio, where the former Arkansas governor has promised to continue his campaign. He has an event scheduled tonight in Plano and tomorrow in Houston and San Antonio. At a Little Rock, Ark., news conference last night, Huckabee said his moribund campaign is not about ego, but his belief in his conservative message. "We're going to keep marching on," he said.

GOP voters in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island go to the polls March 4.

Meanwhile McCain's campaign has shifted into general election mode. He is likely to reach 1,191 delegates in coming weeks and will soon have to make decisions on how to conduct his campaign through the summer and fall.

McCain laced his victory speech last night with attacks on Barack Obama - undefeated since Super Tuesday after beating Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wisconsin's Democratic presidential primary and last night on track to win his 10th consecutive primary or caucus, in Hawaii.

"I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people," he said.

McCain went on to criticize Obama for suggesting he would meet with leaders of nations that the U.S. government accuse of supporting terrorists.

"I'm not the youngest candidate," said McCain, who did not mention Clinton, "but I am the most experienced."

McCain will soon have to address several questions, including how to use President George W. Bush on the campaign trail, how to raise enough money to compete with either Obama or Clinton, whom to select as the vice presidential candidate and how to mend hurt feelings in a fractured GOP.

President George H.W. Bush's Monday endorsement of McCain began a formal coalescing around the candidate, though polls show Huckabee still has substantial support among evangelical Christians and conservatives.

REPUBLICAN DELEGATE SCORECARD

Total delegates at stake 2,380 Total needed to nominate 1,191

Previous Won Other / super Total

totals yesterday delegates

Mike Huckabee 242 0 3 245

John McCain 860 19 48 927

SOURCES: ASSOCIATED PRESS; CNN