John McCain secures Republican Nomination

Senator John McCain has successfully won the Republican Party’s nomination for the Party’s national convention in September for the upcoming presidential election. He clinched the nomination with projected wins in Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Texas increasing the gap between his closest rival.

Senator McCain's wins in all four states ensures that he has the support of 1,191 delegates, the requisite number to secure his party’s nomination. His closest rival, Mike Huckabee, has dropped out of the presidential race, pledging his support to McCain. He stated in a rally in Irving, "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been but what now must be, and that is a united party." On Wednesday, McCain will visit President George W Bush Jr. to receive his endorsement.

On his success, McCain commented that the most important phase of the campaign lay ahead where he had to put forth a convincing case to the American people to ensure that they voted a Republican to the White House.

McCain has stated that he will focus on a campaign that will avoid ‘false promises’. The senator wanted to ensure that the people "stand up and fight for America, for her strength, her ideals and her future". McCain also highlighted the number of challenges that the nation faced, including the war in Iraq and the fight against the al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

For the Democratic camp, a total of 370 delegates are at stake in the four races that are being held. Barack Obama is currently in the lead, having secured 1386 delegates to Hillary Clinton’s 1276. Either of the candidates needs to win a total of 2025 delegates in order to win the nomination as their party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential election.