‘The contest begins tonight,’ McCain says 

Sen. John McCain of Arizona claimed the GOP nomination Tuesday after rolling up one-sided victories in primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.

"I am very pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a sense of great responsibility that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," the 71-year-old McCain told cheering supporters in Dallas.

"The contest begins tonight," the former Navy fighter pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam said, looking ahead to a match-up with either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 4 General Election. Both the remaining Democratic candidates called McCain and offered their congratulations, their campaigns said.

"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," said McCain.

Over the top, according to projections
According to projections by NBC News and the Associated Press, Tuesday’s victories gave McCain a total of 1,205 delegates, 14 more than the 1,191 required to secure the Republican nomination. The projection is based on both delegates pledged to the four-term senator from Arizona and those who have told the AP they will vote for him.

President Bush invited McCain to the White House for lunch on Wednesday — and an endorsement. The two will make a joint statement afterward.

"The president has said he looks forward to vigorously campaigning for the GOP and tonight it has become clear that the GOP nominee will be Senator John McCain," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "Of course the president is going to endorse the GOP nominee which is going to be Senator John McCain."

Meanwhile, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, McCain's main remaining rival, said he was dropping out of the race.

"I called Sen. McCain a few minutes ago," he told supporters in Irving, Texas. "... I extended to him not only my congratulations but my commitment … to do everything possible to unite our party, but more important our country."

"We fought the good fight ... and stayed in until the race was over," he added.

Republicans won't officially nominate McCain until early September at the GOP's national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

This is McCain's second run at the nomination, after his loss to George W. Bush in 2000.

McCain brings a war hero's pedigree to the race. A Navy pilot, he was shot down over Vietnam in 1967, on his 23rd combat mission. He spent 5 1/2 years in captivity, including two in solitary confinement, and was subjected to frequent beatings and torture.

The delegate milestone effectively ends the bruising GOP primary fight that began just days after the November 2006 congressional elections when a slew of Republicans launched candidacies to succeed Bush as the party's standard-bearer and president. At one point, the crowded field reached a dozen.

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