Gore, Bush clinch their nominations

Gore, Bush clinch their nominations
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Less than one week after their rivals withdrew from the race, US Vice-President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush clinched their nominations, promising a brawling race for the White House in November``Tonight we can say: Mission accomplished,'' presumptive Republican nominee Bush said at a rally in the Texas capital of Austin after six southern states voted in the ``Super Tuesday II'' round of primaries and caucuses.

Bush and Gore have now secured the delegates needed to win the nominations at their parties conventions after vanquishing their respective rivals, insurgent Republican John McCain and Democrat Bill Bradley.

Bush, the son and namesake of the former President, immediately trained his sights on the only obstacle left to replacing President Bill Clinton, attacking Gore's ties to the scandal-tainted administration. ``With this victory comes a sacred duty. Americans want a leader who will raise our sights. Americans want a President who will keep his oath and his honor. And this is a charge that I will keep,'' said Bush. But he warned that the battle for the November vote will be long and potentially dirty. Votes in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee put both men over the top for the delegates they need for the nominating conventions in July and August.

Television networks estimated that Gore won 2,575 delegates, far more than the 2,169 needed to win the Democratic nomination. The votes in six states gave Bush more than 1,100 delegates of the 1,034 needed for the Republican nomination. Gore, meanwhile, tapped into his greatest strength the boom economy. The Vice-President had been pulling ahead in polls since last year's surveys gave Bush a 20-point lead. Agence France PresseBut a USA Today/CNN Gallup poll on Tuesday showed Bush holding a 49 per cent to 43 per cent lead over Gore. More importantly, the poll found McCain Republicans went 80 per cent for Bush and 14 per cent for Gore. McCain independents went 46-37 per cent toward Bush. McCain Democrats favored Gore by a 76-13 per cent margin. With the nomination race wrapped up, Bush predicted that voters would go into a ``hibernation'' period until the November elections loom. Nevertheless, both candidates were looking for respectable turnouts on Tuesday as a test of their appeal in the national elections. Both were headed off to fundraisers for what will likely prove to be the costliest race in US presidential history.

Bush goes to Illinois on Thursday for an event he hopes will revamp his record 70 million dollar war chest sapped by McCain's challenge. Gore was travelling to the northeast for key battleground states, and has sought to cloak himself with McCain's reformist mantle by challenging Bush to forgoing political contributions that thwart spending caps.