McCain clinches GOP nomination

Mike Huckabee just appeared before his supporters to concede the race to John McCain, whose four victories tonight give him enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination this summer in Minneapolis.

Calling his White House bid the "journey of a lifetime", Huckabee spoke Tuesday night from Irving, TX commending McCain on an "honorable campaign" and emphasizing his commitment to the Republican party in the fight to the November election.

"We stayed in until the race was over. We kept the faith, that for me has been the most important goal of all," Huckabee said, standing with his wife on stage at the Four Seasons Hotel. "I'd rather lose the election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place."

You have to hand it to Republicans...when push comes to shove, they're pretty good at getting in line. It's apparently Huckabee's turn to do the McCain Gush.

Reacting to the news, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean declared:

John McCain is out of touch with the issues facing Americans each day. Instead of offering solutions to the high cost of health care, help for the middle class or ideas to create jobs, McCain offers 100 years in Iraq and more of the same Bush budgets that have heaped debt onto our children and damaged our economy.

Instead of ending the influence of lobbyists in Washington, he's hired them to run his campaign. The closer voters look at the real McCain record, the more they will realize he cannot be trusted to deliver the change America wants.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has been projected to win Rhode Island comfortably, although not by a huge margin. Chalk up another good call by our gut predictions guru Jonathan. (He wasn't looking at the polls - honest!)

The race is too close to call in Ohio, where Clinton is leading, and Texas, where Obama is leading - as of this hour.