By Michelle Westgate
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) became the presumptive Republican nominee Tuesday after reaching the necessary 1,191 delegates to guarantee the party’s nomination for president, and he was formally endorsed by President George W. Bush at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday.
Primary races in Vermont, Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas delivered 208 more delegates to McCain on Tuesday. According to estimates by The Associated Press, this secures the 1,191 delegates necessary to win the party nomination. The AP currently projects McCain to have a total of 1,224 delegates.
“The contest begins tonight,” McCain said in a victory speech given to a room full of cheering supporters.
McCain also attacked Obama in his victory speech. “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,” he said.
McCain visited the White House on Wednesday, where he received the President’s official endorsement. Despite the low approval ratings for President Bush, many hope this move will bring McCain solid support from some of the more conservative party members.
“I’m very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States, a man who I have great admiration, respect and affection,” McCain said, as he stood beside the president in the White House rose garden.
Following the endorsement, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) issued an e-mail to its supporters. “Make no mistake, McCain is the closest Bush will have to a third term, and the White House will do anything to get him elected,” wrote Tom McMahon, the executive director of the DNC, in the e-mail. “McCain and Bush are both telling the American people what they want to hear, rather than the truth.”
McCain continues to be attacked by conservative pundits such as radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who has recently suggested that Republicans should support Hillary Clinton. However, despite the ongoing jabs from his own party members, the preliminary exit polls in Ohio and Texas showed that McCain was gaining ground with more religious conservatives. This is an area that has been a stronghold for Huckabee up until Tuesday night.
McCain is also taking heat from the press over his acceptance of an endorsement from controversial televangelist Pastor John Hagee, who has a history of inflammatory anti-Semetic, anti-homosexual and anti-Catholic remarks.
“I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are recipients of the judgement of God for that,” Hagee said in a radio interview in Sept. 2006 on NPR, referring to the disaster created by Hurricane Katrina. “There was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came, and the premise of the parade it was going to reach a level of homosexuality never reached before . . .I believe that Hurricane Katrina was a judgement of God against the city of New Orleans.”
McCain issued a statement on Friday, Feb. 29, that rejected Hagee’s views. “In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee’s views, which I obviously do not,” he said in the statement.
McCain, however, did not reject the endorsement.
McCain has not yet received the official GOP nomination; that will happen at the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., in September 2008. But being the presumptive nominee allows McCain to focus on the general election while the Democrats continue to fight over who will be their nominee, according to Bryan Barnes, senior political science major. Barnes is also an officer of the Nassau County Young Republicans.
Earlier in the primary season, the New York Republican Chairman Joseph N. Mondello released an official statement endorsing McCain as the state choice for party nominee.
At the University Tuesday night, students gathered in the student center to watch the results of the primaries. Several students were not surprised by the McCain victory, but many did not believe they would support him in the upcoming presidential election.
“I’m not going to vote for a Republican just because I am a Republican,” said Greg Evangelista, a senior political science major. “There are a lot of people who will do that,” he said.
(johnmccain.com)