John McCain has clinched the Republican presidential nomination

By Jill Zuckman |Washington Bureau

8:27 PM CST, March 4, 2008

WASHINGTON – A jubilant Sen. John McCain formally clinched the Republican nomination Tuesday with wins in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, and prepared to collect President Bush’s endorsement Wednesday at the White House as he begins to take over the GOP in his bid to become the 44th president of the United States.

“I understand the responsibilities I incur with this nomination, and I give you my word I will not evade or slight a single one,” McCain told cheering supporters in Dallas. “Our campaign must be and will be more than another tired debate of false promises, empty sound bites or useless arguments from the past that address not a single American’s concerns for their family’s security.”

By reaching the threshold of 1,191 delegates necessary to claim the top spot on the GOP his party’s ticket, McCain ended the race. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday night conceded and offered his support to McCain. The Arizona senator now is prepared to take control of the Republican National Committee, its operatives and resources for the general election fight against the Democratic nomination.

Winning the last of the necessary delegates will also free the Arizona senator to set his own schedule in order to raise money for his campaign rather than following the dictates of the primary contests. For the rest of the week, McCain will hold fundraisers in West Palm Beach and Fort Myers, Fla., as well as in Atlanta, New Orleans and Phoenix.

And finally, the last victory on his path to the nomination allows McCain to train his sights on the Democrats and try to define the issues for the fall campaign.

To a certain extent, McCain had already begun to do that.

On Monday morning, after a weekend break in Sedona, Ariz., McCain stepped before reporters and gave what amounted to a foreign policy briefing as he detailed the news of the Russian election, Hamas attacks on Israel, rising tensions in Venezuela and the question of a free trade agreement with Columbia.

But Charles R. Black, Jr., a senior adviser to McCain, said foreign affairs won’t be the only topic of discussion. Foreign policy is widely seen as McCain’s strength.

“We’ll obviously be talking about national security and foreign policy, but in the general election the economy is going to be a big issue and health care is, too, and we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about those issues,” he said.

For now, McCain will begin making decisions about how to flesh out the programs he’s already presented to voters, Black said. And McCain said he plans to examine the different approaches that nominees have taken to selecting a vice presidential running mate.

“We’ll pick a process and move forward,” McCain told reporters. “I don’t know the timing.”

In his speech Tuesday, McCain took the opportunity to jab Democrats for trying to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which many voters believe has cost Americans’ their jobs. And he painted his future opponent, whoever that may be, as an advocate of “failed, big-government mandates from the 1960s and ’70s.”

“I will leave it to my opponent to argue that we should abrogate trade treaties and pretend the global economy will go away and Americans can secure our future by trading and investing only among ourselves,” McCain said, promising to campaign for free markets and help displaced workers.

McCain also tried to present himself as a different kind of candidate who won’t offer voters “platitudes instead of principles and insults instead of ideas.”

“Their patience is at an end for politicians who value ambition over principle, and for partisanship that is less a contest of ideas than an uncivil brawl over the spoils of power,” he said. [source]