McCain Wraps It Up (Mike Huckabee Drops Out!)

CBS News projects Republican Sen. John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination for president. Click here for the state-by-state tally.

McCain will win Republican primaries Tuesday in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island, CBS News projects. McCain's last Republican rival, Mike Huckabee, dropped out of the race after the results came in.

"The most important race begins," McCain said. "It's a very humbling thing, and I say that with all sincerity."

McCain will travel to the White House tomorrow where he will receive the endorsement of President Bush. The president and McCain will have lunch and then appear together in the Rose Garden.

CBS News reports that Barack Obama called McCain from his San Antonio hotel room. The chat was cordial and brief.

"This clears the path for McCain to begin his general election process in earnest," said CBSNews.com Senior Political Editor Vaughn Ververs. "With a possible protracted battle on the Democratic side that could continue for weeks, it's a luxury Republicans need as they enter into a difficult road towards November."

In the Democratic contest, Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are battling it out in the crucial states of Ohio and Texas.

CBS News projects that the two Democratic contenders will split the New England states voting today -- Obama will win in Vermont and Clinton will win in Rhode Island.

In all there were 370 Democratic delegates at stake in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio and Texas, which uses an unusual primary-caucus system.

According to CBS News early exit polls, the economy was the top issue for Democratic voters in all four states voting today. Large majorities of Democrats in all four states think the economy is in bad shape.

The economy was of most concern to Ohio Democratic voters. In Vermont, however, the economy nearly tied with Iraq as the most important issue.

Ohio Democratic voters hold mostly negative views on U.S. trade with other countries, according to the early exit polls. Eight in ten say trade takes jobs away from their state. In Texas, however, a lower number -- 58 percent -- say trade takes jobs away. In fact, in Texas, a quarter say U.S. trade with other countries creates jobs.

According to the exit polls, 32 percent of Texas Democratic primary voters are Hispanic -- up from the 24 percent in 2004. In Ohio, 20 percent are African American, compared to 14 percent in 2004. Eighteen percent of Texas primary voters today are black, compared to 21 percent in 2004.

After 11 straight victories, Obama had the momentum and the lead in the delegate chase. Going into tonight, Obama had a 1,390-1,276 lead in the CBS News count. See the latest CBS News state-by-state delegate tally.

Clinton in desperate need of a comeback with time running out - if it hadn't already.

"Hillary Clinton, if you believe the polls, and that's always a danger, seems to have made her move in the last couple of days," CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield said. "I think part of that may have to do with her pounding away on the fact that Barack Obama doesn't have the experience - that so-called 3:00 a.m. ad." Read more about the ad.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric spoke Tuesday with Clinton in Columbus, asking her about the near-impossibility she faces in catching up to Obama in elected delegates.

"We're just working hard today to get all the votes that we possibly can get," Clinton said. "And, remember, this is a long journey. My husband didn't get the nomination until June of 1992 and I have every confidence that we're going to continue to pick up delegates as we go."

"So you're counting on super delegates?" Couric asked. "Are you concerned they'll be under considerable pressure to reflect the views of voters nationwide?"

"Well, you know, I think that superdelegates have a purpose in the process, which is to exercise independent judgment: who they think would be the best president and who they believe would have the best chance of winning. If you look at the states that I've won, these are the states a Democrat has to win," Clinton said. "You know, with all due respect, a number of the states that Sen. Obama has won, which are part of the process and therefore certainly their delegates will count, but these are not likely to be states that a Democrat will win unless there is a tidal wave in our favor."

Some of her supporters, her husband, the former president among them, said she needed to outpoll Obama in both Texas and Ohio to sustain her candidacy.

Without conceding anything, Obama's allies said even that wouldn't be enough, given his lead in the delegate count and party rules that virtually assure primary losers a significant share of the spoils.

Couric asked Obama Tuesday if he would personally ask Clinton to get out of the race if it is, in fact, mathematically impossible for her to catch up in elected delegates.

"No. I mean, obviously this is going to be Sen. Clinton's decision to make," Obama told CBS News. "She is a tough competitor, she has been tenacious and is continuing to raise boat loads of money and I'm happy to continue to compete state by state until we get to the convention."

In appearances Tuesday, Clinton sounded like she might continue her campaign if she only won Ohio, and Obama sounded almost resigned to an extension of the nomination battle.

"You don't get to the White House as a Democrat without winning Ohio," Clinton said in Houston.

In San Antonio, Obama called Clinton "a tenacious and determined candidate" and predicted little shift in his delegate lead no matter who won Texas and Ohio, "which means that either way, we'll go on through Mississippi and Wyoming next week." Pennsylvania, the biggest single prize left, follows on April 22.

"All those states coming up are going to make a difference," he said. "What we want to do is make sure we're competing in every single state."

It takes 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and slightly more than 600 remained to be picked in the 10 states that vote after Tuesday.

The Democratic marathon was in contrast to a Republican race that was fierce while it lasted, but long since settled.

McCain, the Arizona senator, began the night with 991 delegates, out of 1,191 needed for the nomination at the party convention next summer in St. Paul, Minn. There were 256 Republican delegates at stake in the four states on the night's ballot.

McCain's sole major remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 215 delegates, and posed no threat.

It was McCain's second run at the nomination, after his loss to George W. Bush in 2000. Once the front-runner, his campaign nearly imploded last summer. But he regrouped, reassuming the underdog role that he relishes, and methodically dispatched one rival after another in a string of primaries in January and early February.

In the other half of the most wide-open presidential campaign in a half-century, Obama looked for the knockout blow, while Clinton sought a revival.

As before, he outspent her in television commercials, an advantage padded by unions working in his behalf.

Rhode Island and Vermont received little attention from either of the candidates, who devoted most of their time to Ohio and Texas. They debated once in each big state, and stressed issues that varied from one to the other.

In Ohio, a new powerful voting bloc may be asserting its dominance: blue-collar white males. Couric reports that men who work industrial jobs - on assembly lines and steel mills - make up 20 percent of the voting population.

One Cleveland blue-collar worker, John Myers, told CBS News: "I am not ready to back a lady president; I just can't go there."

Obama sent out mass mailings that said Clinton had supported the free trade agreement when it was passed during her husband's administration, and that he had opposed it. She angrily accused him of distorting her record.

But roles were reversed in the campaign's final hours after a memo surfaced in which a Canadian official described a meeting in which Obama's senior economic adviser said the Illinois senator's criticisms of the trade agreement were political positioning. Clinton said Obama had given a "wink-wink" to Canada on the issue.

Obama said, "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything."

The Texas campaign revolved more around readiness to serve as commander in chief.

Clinton aired a television commercial that showed children asleep in their beds. "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safely asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?" the announcer said.

He told reporters that Clinton had already had her "red phone moment" -- and voted for the Iraq war.

He launched his own ad, with sleeping children and a telephone ringing ominously.

Couric asked Obama if he's now having trouble countering attacks by Clinton on his national security experience - and how he would handle similar attacks by McCain come fall.

"I don't think we've had difficulty countering them. That's why we won 11 contests straight. Sen. Clinton's has been making this argument since the beginning of this campaign and the American people, I think, have recognized that what we need in national security is judgment, a judgment that Senator Clinton and John McCain both failed to show."

If you look at the Romney, Hunter, Fred (and probably half of the Huckabee votes), what you have is the core of the core of the Republican party refusing to support McCain.

It does not bode well for McCain, really.

I am a big Republican supporter; the kind that flies candidates around and hosts dinners. (Went to one for Cornyn the other day, in fact -— got my pic with the VP, which is really why I went.)

I won’t give McCain a penny. I doubt I will vote for the man. (I might if it mattered, but given that he’ll still lwin in Texas, I’ll vote for someone else.)

Thanks for abandoning my son and his fellow soldiers. Enjoy your part in helping to elect whichever dim is their nominee, who will then gut our military, lose this war (snatching defeat from the jaws of victory), and steal money from those in this country who work hard to earn a living.

Thanks for abandoning the country. Grow some principle. You'll be the pragmatist until one day we're choosing between Stalin and Hitler. Thanks for letting the nation die.

Just a lowly peon here...LOL...but the other races, such as Cornyn’s, were the reason I thought it was foolish for anyone to cross over and vote on the Dem ticket. Some of the Republican races were pretty tight here and immigration enforcement was a factor in one of those races (Nathan Macias/Doug Miller). Looks like Props 1 & 2 on immigration enforcement and voter IDs passed overwhelmingly, which is great news. But you are right, McCain should not consider the Texas vote a mandate any more than Perry should for his 39%, but be assured that his arrogance will win out as it has with Perry, so we must keep a fire under him to do the right thing.

Nice try. Principle? You think you’re being principled by handing over our miltary to those who wish to gut our military? You think it is principled to hand over the POTUS to the dims who will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this war? Go ahead and take your marbles home and cry about your loses. People who play this “I won’t vote for anyone but the perfect candidate” BS make me want to puke.

With three members of my family currently serving in the Armed Forces (one in Iraq right now, one will be going for a second tour - my son, and one we don’t yet know about) there is only one choice IMHO. I’m voting for McCain.

And this is the only thing McCain has any claim to fame on. If we weren't at war, then McCain couldn't buy my vote with his entire campaign fund.

Unfortunately, we are at war. That has to be dealt with. Once the war is won, their will be a reckoning for the RNC in general and McCain in particular.

And this is the only thing McCain has any claim to fame on. If we weren't at war, then McCain couldn't buy my vote with his entire campaign fund.

I'm with you here. The war has to be won, and we all know that we will have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory if the Dim's win the WH. Once the war in Iraq has reached a favorable conclusion, the GOP will have to make a decision for it's future.

Props 1&2 did pass? I didnt stay up last night to watch Texas results.

Where can I see all the results?

I am in the Dallas TX area.

I just cannot imagine any true Conservative who loves his country settling for a defeat in Iraq just because he doesn't like McCain.

I can and I suggest you bust your butt to help get rid of McCain before September 1.

The US doesn't need a liberal president like McCain destroying our country from within while others are sacrificing their life from without.

Get rid of the angry little liberal!

We are on another thread talking about the Beverly Hillbillies, gladiator movies and cartoons. I feel your pain.

"Nobody running is running for me." floriduh voter; I nominate myself for quote of the day.

Yes, the GOP nominated Bob Dole as the opponent to Bill Clinton in the ‘96 race. IMO, Dole was quite a bit more conservative than McCain is and yet, even after actually watching Clinton and his cronies in “action” for 4 years, the voters walked right into that voting booth and pulled the switch to allow BJ to govern for another 4 long years.

My only point, I suppose, is that the people may not be so “quick” to elect a conservative congress in 2010. I would love to see it, but I’m just not at all sure it will happen that way. We’ll see.

Hi FV... haven’t run into you in a bit! Hope you are well and taking care!

Yes, cartoons! The honest truth is, that when I think of the condition we are in as a country it brings tears and emotion that I can hardly deal with.

Oh.... a side family note. We go to court on Friday. Adopting our last foster daughter , age 16, and our 9 year old grandson... ( gs is a long sad story)...needless to say for a pair of ol seniors we are keeping active !!

Polly

While the Huckster was WAY LATE, at least he FINALLY did the right thing.

If things get nasty in the Democrat race, the GOP would be better off running Bob Dole (again) than running McCain. McCain would draw Democrat voters who would then vote Democrat down ticket. If Bob Dole were on the ticket, the Democrats who were alienated by the eventual Democrat nominee would be more likely to stay home.

However, as you no doubt know, the electorate re-elected Bill Clinton in ‘96, over Dole, even after living through fours years of Clinton’s first term, and even after witnessing the implementation of a major portion of the Contract With America.

Bill Clinton was not nearly so liberal as many people made and continue to make him out to be. He actually signed a lot of the conservative legislation that Congress passed in 1995-1996. Unfortunately, when Clinton took credit for signing all that stuff, the Stupid Party proceeded to bash Clinton (and effectively repudiate the agenda they themselves had actually initiated) rather than remind people that to continue Clinton's agenda they needed to elect Republicans to Congress.

“anti-gun,” he’s got a C from the NRA, and most of his anti-gun votes have not been of the ban-all-guns variety

A "ban all guns" politician is less dangerous than a "reasonable restrictions" one. The former is so much more likely to actually get stuff passed that despite the smaller size of the incremental infringements, their cumulative impact over time is much greater.

yes McCain-Feingold was an attack on free speech, but I think his motive was to clean up politics, misguided as it was.

Any particular basis for that belief? I can believe Fred Thompson might have believed that was the objective, but given how it's written I can't attribute such belief to the author.

You may believe that you are pissed off at the "GOP" but you are actually pissed off at 83% of America.

How often do most people hear any real conservative ideas? If the Democrats propose a program and the Republicans only want to give if partial funding, what are people supposed to think? The Democrats will paint the Republicans as greedy nasty people who want to keep more than their share of wealth, and the Republicans will do nothing to counteract that.

The reason that so few people are conservative is that the supposed spokespeople for conservatism refuse to actually preach it. We're supposed to believe that it would be bad for GOP spokepeople to preach conservatism because not enough people believe in it? Isn't that supposed to be the whole point of trying to spread a message?

>We can box McCain in with a muscular Conseravtive caucus in the house and Senate....its up to us to give him those who will obstruct his sell outs

A small quibble would be that if we have the MOJO to get a muscular conservative caucus in congress, then we could box in anyone, including hillary or Obama.

In fact, they might be easier to box in. - But I really doubt that we have anything like that clout.

The trend is your friend as I say in investing, and it doesn’t look good to me.
It may be a very long wait... If ever.

Thanks for abandoning my son ...

Ouch. Come on guy. No one is abandoning our children.

You cannot seriously state that we have to accept any crazy liberal just because they have an R beside their names and support military action at this time.

McCain’s strong negatives are legion.
Your son’s service is applauded.

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