It's official. John McCain will be the Republican nominee for president.
From the Washington Post:
Sen. John McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night, and immediately castigated his potential Democratic rivals as liberals who lack the experience and wisdom to lead a country facing economic distress at home and engaged in war abroad.
The senator from Arizona easily won primaries in Texas and three other states, becoming the new face of the Republican Party and, at last, capturing the prize that had eluded him for a decade. The victories ended one of the great tests of political endurance for a man whose personal mettle was forged by five years in a North Vietnamese prison.
His political ambitions were dashed in 2000 by George W. Bush and again seemed to end last summer amid staff infighting and financial chaos. But McCain soldiered on, emerging last night as the far-from-universal choice of a fractured Republican Party. His remaining rival, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, captured about a third of the vote in Texas, signaling the frustrations that conservatives still feel about McCain.
By night's end, though, Huckabee had dropped out. The White House announced that McCain would receive President Bush's endorsement after a lunch intended to cement the senator as the political heir of his former rival.
Campaigning in Texas yesterday, McCain told reporters that he will "await the outcome" on the Democratic side. But in his victory speech at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, he made it clear that he will begin immediately to make his case that the country cannot afford to have either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama as president.
"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," he said to a screaming crowd. "I will leave it to my opponent to propose returning to the failed, big-government mandates of the '60s and '70s to address problems such as the lack of health-care insurance for some Americans."
McCain added enough delegates last night to take him over the 1,191 he will need at the party's national convention in September. Huckabee conceded after the polls closed, saying he called McCain to congratulate him for an "honorable" campaign and pledging "to do everything possible to unite our party, but more importantly to unite our country."
Standing in front of a banner with the number "1,191" on it and flanked by two large American flags, McCain vowed that his campaign "will be more than another tired debate of false promises, empty sound bites, or useless arguments from the past." He focused much of his speech on terrorism and the Iraq war.
"Useless arguments from the past"?
It sounds like McCain wants to cast himself as the candidate of change.
..."The contest begins tonight," [McCain] said, promising to seek "a government that is as capable, wise, brave and decent as the great people we serve."
The contest didn't begin on Tuesday night for McCain. He's been running for president since the 2000 election.
This contest began years ago.
That's years of garnering support, but also years of alienating conservatives.
Will McCain succeed in energizing Republicans?
He may. He has got a lot of work to do.
Bottom line: McCain is finally going to get his chance at the presidency.
Whoop-de-do.
I can barely contain my excitement.
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