Arizona Senator John McCain contemplated the future of his campaign today after suffering a Super Tuesday blowout, while George W. Bush turned his focus to Vice President Al Gore, labeling him an agent of Washington.
A senior McCain aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he expects McCain to depart the GOP contest, but cautioned that no firm decision has been made. McCain is to assess his future at his Arizona retreat.
Bill Bradley says he’ll make his future plans known in a few days. The Democrat has retreated to his Montclair, New Jersey home to consider the future of his presidential bid against Al Gore. The Vice President took a clean sweep over Bradley on Super Tuesday, winning all fifteen Democratic contests. He even won New York, where Bradley played pro basketball with the Knicks, and Missouri, where Bradley was born. Bradley all but conceded the race to Al Gore last night. Democratic Party officials say the Bradley campaign aides have told them he’s planning to quit the race tomorrow.
George W. Bush beat Senator McCain in California and New York, the two biggest delegate prizes at stake on Tuesday, and he won five other primaries, as well: Ohio, Georgia, Maine, Missouri and Maryland. Bush also won caucuses in Minnesota and Washington State. McCain won in New England and Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont, as voters in thirteen states participated in the year’s largest night of Republican presidential contests. In all, 613 delegates were at stake. 1,034 are needed for the nomination. Bush won at least 446 delegates, and McCain at least 126, bringing the totals to date to 616 delegates for Bush and 231 for McCain.