Washington - Fresh off clinching the Republican presidential
nomination on Tuesday, John McCain said he was ready for the general
election and attacked his Democratic rivals on issues ranging from
Iraq to the economy.
'My friends, now we begin the most important part of our
campaign,' McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Texas.
McCain won all four states up for grabs Tuesday, including key
contests in Texas and Ohio, thereby topping the 1,191 delegates
needed to become the Republican Party's nominee.
Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton remain
locked in a tight battle for their party's nod.
McCain, 71, used his victory speech in Dallas to lay out contrasts
with Democrats on Iraq, trade and the economy that will likely form
the basis of his campaign for the November 4 general election.
A vocal supporter of the Iraq war, McCain defended the 2003
invasion but said his campaign would be about securing the future of
Iraq and preventing the outbreak of sectarian conflict.
Both Clinton and Obama have called for US troops to be pulled out
of Iraq, while Obama has campaigned that he had the 'judgement' to
oppose the invasion of Iraq from the beginning.
'It is of little use to Americans for their candidates to avoid
the many complex challenges of these struggles by re-litigating
decisions of the past,' McCain said.
'The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring
that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a
sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide,
destabilizing the entire Middle East.'
McCain also chided Democratic on trade, accusing them of trying to
'pretend the global economy will go away,' after both Obama and
Clinton called for renegotiation and possible cancellation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
'We will campaign in favor of seizing the opportunities presented
by the growth of free markets throughout the world,' he said.
McCain praised Republican rival Mike Huckabee, who bowed out of
the race Tuesday night, for a positive and 'passionate' campaign.
USA
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