Kerry sweeps five states in Presidential primaries

Democratic US presidential primaries front-runner John Kerry has rolled up big victories and a pile of delegates in five states, while two of his rivals kept their candidacies alive with singular triumphs.

Senator John Edwards easily won his native South Carolina and retired US Army general Wesley Clark eked out victory in neighbouring Oklahoma.

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean found his candidacy in peril with no wins while Joe Lieberman was also shut out forcing him to drop out of the race to pick a challenger to take on President George W Bush for the White House.

“It’s a huge night,” Senator Kerry told The Associated Press, even as rivals denied him a coveted sweep.

Racking up victories in Missouri, Arizona, North Dakota, New Mexico and Delaware, Mr Kerry suggested that his rivals were regional candidates.

“I compliment John Edwards, but I think you have to run a national campaign, and I think that’s what we’ve shown tonight,” the four-term Massachusetts senator said. “You can’t cherry-pick the presidency.”

With Iowa and New Hampshire already in his pocket, Mr Kerry boasts a record of 7-2 in primary season contests, the undisputed front-runner who had a chance to put two major rivals away but barely failed.

A Democratic candidate to run against Mr Bush in November elections will be chosen at the party’s national convention this summer by delegates largely allocated in votes around the country in coming months.

The results pushed Mr Kerry close to 200 delegates out of 2,162 needed for the nomination, including the superdelegates of lawmakers and party traditionalists. Mr Dean trailed by nearly 70, Mr Edwards by nearly 100.

Democrats award delegates based on a candidates’ showing in congressional districts, giving Mr Kerry’s rivals a chance to grab a few delegates even in contests they lost.

In nearly every region of the nation, the most diverse group of Democrats yet to cast votes this primary season said they had a singular priority: Defeat Mr Bush in November.

“I don’t care who wins” the Democratic primary, said Judy Donovan of Tucson, Arizona. “I’d get my dog to run. I’m not kidding. I would get Mickey Mouse in there. Anybody but Bush.”

In state after state, exit polls showed Mr Kerry dominated among voters who want a candidate with experience or who could beat Mr Bush.

Mr Edwards had said he must win South Carolina, and he did by dominating among voters who said they most value a candidate who cares about people like them.

“It’s very easy to lay out the map to get us to the nomination,” Mr Edwards told the AP, drawing a line from Michigan on Saturday to Virginia and Tennessee next Tuesday.

General Clark won Oklahoma and finished second in Arizona and New Mexico - enough to fight another day.

Mr Dean saved his money for a last stand in Wisconsin on February 17, a long-shot strategy that some of his own advisers questioned.

“We’re going to have a tough night,” Mr Dean told supporters as he promised to keep “going and going and going and going – just like the Energizer bunny”.

Senator Lieberman, who stood for Vice President in the 2000 election that put Mr Bush in the White House, said: “Today the voters have rendered their verdict and I accept it.”

Mr Kerry, who just six weeks ago was written off as a candidate, reshaped the race with victories in Iowa and New Hampshire while Mr Dean’s candidacy cratered. “I’ll keep working and fighting until I win the nomination, and then I’ll keep working and fighting until I beat George Bush,” he told the AP.

In a speech prepared for delivery to supporters, Mr Kerry said, “George Bush, who speaks of strength, has made America weaker – weaker economically, weaker in education and weaker in health care.”

The race turns next to Michigan and Washington state, with a combined delegate total of 204.

Maine, Tennessee, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Idaho and Utah hold primaries or caucuses before a mega-state showdown on March 2.

That’s when delegate-rich California, Georgia, New York and Ohio join six other states for primaries or caucuses. Party leaders expect the nomination to be wrapped up by March 9, when Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas vote.

The last elections are June 8 in New Jersey and Montana, but Democrats hope to have a presumptive nominee in place well before then.