Kerry Cements Nomination; Edwards Out

Yahoo! News - Edwards, the freshman senator from North Carolina, stopped just short of conceding, but two Democratic officials said on condition of anonymity that Edwards would step aside Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C.

Kerry rolled up huge victories in Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut and his home state of Massachusetts. The four-term senator also was favored in the late-poll closing states of California, New York, Minnesota and Rhode Island. Georgia was too close to call, and Vermont went to Howard Dean, the state's former governor who dropped out of the race last month.

Kerry, quickly pivoting toward a general-election fight, took a congratulatory call from Bush.

Hours earlier, Bush had dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to TV studios to criticize the presumptive foe.

Kerry won 22 of the first 25 elections, many by routs, in a six-week campaign that drew attention to his decorated service in the Vietnam War and amplified Democratic criticism of Bush.