SIDEBAR: McCain nails down nomination, ready for "real" contest

Mar 5, 2008, 3:49 GMT

Washington - Fresh off clinching the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, John McCain said he was ready for the general election and attacked his Democratic rivals on issues ranging from Iraq to the economy.

'My friends, now we begin the most important part of our campaign,' McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Texas.

McCain won all four states up for grabs Tuesday, including key contests in Texas and Ohio, thereby topping the 1,191 delegates needed to become the Republican Party's nominee.

Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton remain locked in a tight battle for their party's nod.

McCain, 71, used his victory speech in Dallas to lay out contrasts with Democrats on Iraq, trade and the economy that will likely form the basis of his campaign for the November 4 general election.

A vocal supporter of the Iraq war, McCain defended the 2003 invasion but said his campaign would be about securing the future of Iraq and preventing the outbreak of sectarian conflict.

Both Clinton and Obama have called for US troops to be pulled out of Iraq, while Obama has campaigned that he had the 'judgement' to oppose the invasion of Iraq from the beginning.

'It is of little use to Americans for their candidates to avoid the many complex challenges of these struggles by re-litigating decisions of the past,' McCain said.

'The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide, destabilizing the entire Middle East.'

McCain also chided Democratic on trade, accusing them of trying to 'pretend the global economy will go away,' after both Obama and Clinton called for renegotiation and possible cancellation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

'We will campaign in favor of seizing the opportunities presented by the growth of free markets throughout the world,' he said.

McCain praised Republican rival Mike Huckabee, who bowed out of the race Tuesday night, for a positive and 'passionate' campaign.