Kerry sweeps away Democrat rivals

John Kerry will fight President Bush for t he White House this autumn after a string of poll victories.

The senator from Massachusetts, who has been dubbed "the new JFK", virtually swept the board last night in the "Super Tuesday" primary elections that saw him win the backing of the Democratic party faithful from New York to California.

His nearest rival, Senator John Edwards, will formally confirm later today that he is dropping out of the race to become the Democratic presidential-candidate, sealing the nominationof the 60-year-old Mr Kerry.

Out of 10 states holding primary elections yesterday, Kerry swept to victory in all but one. He scored major wins in crucial states like New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. First returns from California showed him winning with a crushing 68 per cent of the vote.

The results were also a bitter disappointment for Mr Edwards, from South Carolinia, who had hoped to capture enough votes to carry the fight to the next series of primaries, in the southern states where his support is strongest.

With votes still being counted in Georgia he was narrowly trailing Mr Kerry but suffered heavy defeats in Minnesota and Ohio, where his supporters had earlier predicted an upset.

After cancelling a series of campaign appearances in Texas today, Mr Edwards flew home to prepare an announcement that he is no longer running. There was also an empty first victory for Howard Dean in his home state of Vermont, that came nearly three weeks after the former favourite abandoned his campaign.

Among the first to congratulate Mr Kerry was President Bush, in a telephone call that made it clear the White House accepts he will be the man to beat this November.

After saying that they had "a very nice conversation", Mr Kerry then directed his fire at Mr Bush, attacking the President's policies at home and abroad and telling cheering supporters that "change is coming to America".

He added: "We will win this election and we will build one America of freedom and fairness for all."

Democrats will formally pick their candidate at the party's national convention in Boston this July, but with the nomination already sewn up attention will now turn to Mr Kerry's running mate for the vice-president.

Many Democrats will be pushing for Mr Kerry to choose the 50-yearold Senator Edwards, to forge a "dream ticket" that they believe offers the best hope of defeating Mr Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney.

Although the two men are not close, Mr Kerry appeared to be reaching out to his closest rival last night, saying that "John Edwards brings a compelling voice to our party and great promise for the leadership in years to come".

With opinion polls showing Mr Kerry holding a narrow lead over Mr Bush, the gloves will now be coming off as the presidential campaign begins in earnest. Republicans will unveil the first TV ads of the Bush campaign next week, dipping into a huge war chest that stands at close to £100 million.

Mr Kerry, despite being one of the richest men ever to run for president, is heavily in debt after mortgaging one of his houses to fund his bid for the Democratic nomination. Mr Kerry has also made much of his military record, with supporterscomparing his heroism in the Vietnam War with Mr Bush, who has faced questions about missing months during his service in the Texas air national guard.

The White House is likely to paint Mr Kerry as an old-fashioned liberal who is soft on issues like crime and gay marriage, also pointing out that he has "flip-flopped" on several major issues, including Iraq and the war on terrorism.