Kerry cements Demo nomination

John Kerry cemented the Democratic presidential nomination, driving rival John Edwards from the race with a string of Super Tuesday triumphs that catapulted the Massachusetts senator into an eight-month struggle to oust President Bush.

"Change is coming to America," Kerry said, capping a remarkable comeback that began this year with his candidacy on the brink of extinction in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Dominating all comers, the four-term lawmaker won 27 of 30 elections as each victory fed on the next in a swell of momentum that no rival could overcome. From Edwards' Southern strongholds to the jobs-poor Midwest states of Ohio and Michigan to the growing Southwest battleground of Arizona to his own New England base, Kerry racked up victories in a six-week primary season that amplified Democratic criticism of the Republican incumbent.

In state after state, Democrats said their top priority was a candidate who could defeat a wartime president with a $100 million-plus campaign treasury. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, won an overwhelming number of their votes and now leads a relatively united party against Bush.

"I am a fighter, and for more than 30 years I have been on the battle lines, on the front lines, for fairness and mainstream American values," Kerry told cheering supporters in Washington, D.C., promising to close tax loopholes, offer new incentives for manufacturers, protect the environment, raise the minimum wage and cut health-care costs.

The crowd shouted along with him as Kerry delivered his signature line: "If George Bush wants to make national security the central issue of 2004, I have three words that I know he understands — Bring it on."

Strategists in both parties say the general election may be one of the nastiest in memory, with both camps seeking to energize their core supporters. In a polarized nation, there are fewer swing voters to be courted with warm-and-fuzzy politicking, they say.

Pivoting quickly to the Nov. 2 election, Kerry ordered his staff to immediately put in place a process to review potential vice presidential candidates, according to senior advisers. They said it was possible Kerry would choose a nominee well before the Democratic nominating convention in his hometown of Boston in July.

Aides said Kerry had grown frustrated with Edwards' claim that he was the only candidate who could beat Bush, but not enough to preclude his consideration for a vice presidential nomination