It's John Kerry, Mr President

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry's Super Tuesday triumph has given him the Democratic nomination to challenge President George W. Bush in November.

Kerry's string of coast-to-coast wins yesterday knocked rival Senator John Edwards out of the race.

Kerry, who received a call of congratulations from Bush, quickly turned his focus to the election and said he was "a fighter" who would challenge the President.

"Tonight the message could not be clearer, all across our country, change is coming to America," Kerry told supporters in Washington.

The Massachusetts senator continued his domination of the Democratic race on its biggest night of voting, scoring wins in nine states.

His wins included Georgia, Minnesota and Ohio, which Edwards had targeted.

The day capped a spectacular political resurrection for Kerry, whose campaign was considered dead two months ago.

Kerry and Bush now embark on what promises to be a hard-fought, eight-month election campaign.

Bush, who trails Kerry in some opinion polls, starts his television advertising in 17 battleground states tomorrow, dipping into a campaign war chest worth more than US$100 million ($148.8 million).

Edwards had hoped to slow Kerry's march to the nomination, but narrowly lost Georgia and was swamped by Kerry in most of the other states voting on Super Tuesday.

He cancelled a planned campaign trip to Texas to return home to North Carolina, where aides said he would end his White House bid in a speech at the Raleigh high school attended by two of his children.

"We have been the little engine that could, and I am proud of what we have done together, you and I," Edwards told supporters in Atlanta.

He said his campaign had put issues such as poverty, civil rights and race back at the top of the Democratic agenda.

Former presidential contender Howard Dean, who dropped out of the race two weeks ago without a single win, triumphed in his home state of Vermont to spoil Kerry's bid for a 10-out-of-10 sweep.

Dean, once the front-runner in the Democratic race, was still on the ballot in Vermont, where he was governor for 11 years.

As well as Georgia, Minnesota and Ohio, Kerry won in California, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island and his home state of Massachusetts, giving him 27 wins in the first 30 Democratic contests.

At stake yesterday were the votes of 1151 delegates to July's nominating convention - more than half of the 2162 delegates needed to win.

Kerry's wins did not give him enough delegates to clinch the nomination, but they made it virtually impossible for Edwards, his last major rival, to catch him.

Even while battling Edwards, Kerry had been keeping his eyes on the November election and focusing his attacks on Bush's economic and foreign policy.

Bush spokesman Scott Stanzel said the President called Kerry to congratulate him on "an impressive victory".

"He said Senator Kerry had won the nomination against a tough field and ... he was looking forward to a spirited race," Stanzel said.

"Senator Kerry thanked him for the call and indicated that he was looking forward to the race and said he hoped they could keep it to the issues."

Kerry said the two men had "a nice conversation".

And he praised Edwards, saying he brought "a compelling voice to our party".

- REUTERS