By Stuart Gorin
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- Super Tuesday was so "super" for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry March 2 that the now-apparent Democratic Party presidential nominee received congratulatory telephone calls not only from North Carolina Senator John Edwards, his remaining major rival for the position, but also from President George W. Bush, the presumed Republican nominee.

So named because it was the biggest day on the election calendar -- with contests involving one-fifth of the nation's states and one-third of its eligible voters, Super Tuesday resulted in Kerry gaining a near sweep and the Edwards camp saying its candidate was scheduled to announce his departure from the race at a news conference on March 3.

Kerry sailed to coast-to-coast victories by large margins in primaries in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island, and in caucuses in Minnesota. The victories gave him a cumulative total of more than 1,385 Democratic National Convention delegates pledged to his nomination. A total of 2,162 delegates to the July 26-29 convention in Boston are needed to officially win the nomination.

Voters in Vermont, the only other state holding a March 2 primary, gave the bulk of their convention delegate support to "favorite son" former Governor Howard Dean, even though he dropped out of the contest on February 18.

The two long-shot candidates still in the Democratic race, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and the Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, finished far back in all 10 Super Tuesday events, receiving less than 10 percent of the vote even in their respective home states. Both said they would continue to campaign.

At a rally in Washington, Kerry stopped short of formally claiming victory but thanked supporters and said, "we can and will win this election."

Edwards, at his own rally in Atlanta, referred to his campaign in the past tense and praised Kerry as "an extraordinary advocate for causes all of us believe in."

A spokesman for Bush said that in a call from the White House, the president told Kerry he had had "an impressive night" and "won the nomination against a tough field." Bush added that he looked forward to "a spirited race." A Kerry spokesman described the call as "very nice" and said the senator's reply was that he "looked forward to having a debate on the issues."

Policy lines are clearly drawn between the two men, with sharp disagreements already expressed on the conduct of war in Iraq, the economy, abortion, homosexual rights, the death penalty and the Second Amendment right to carry weapons.

Washington Post writer David Broder says that "for a politically polarized nation," the campaign almost certainly will result in a close election.

Current opinion polls give Kerry a lead over Bush that many analysts attribute to the media attention paid to the Democratic nomination battles while the president had no primary opposition and Republican voter turnout was much lower.

But Bush has raised more campaign money than any candidate in history -- approximately $140 million to Kerry's $32 million to date -- and his re-election team planned to begin a series of television ads later this week that will try to convince voters the country will be better off with the president remaining in the White House another four years and also attempt to show Kerry as a liberal who changes his position on issues and is soft on defense.

While Kerry's momentum and 27 victories in the 30 primaries and caucuses held to date have been impressive, they have still involved only a relatively small number of voters compared to the more than 100 million ballots expected to be cast in the November general election. According to some political analysts, many Americans still do not know much about Kerry, and the election could turn on which political party does the best job in defining him, the Democrats in a positive light or the Republicans more negatively.

Veteran political observer Charlie Cook says the battleground will be in the 16 or 17 of the 50 states where the voting was very close during the 2000 presidential election. Perhaps the most important one, Cook says, is Ohio -- with other Midwestern states, the Pacific Northwest and Florida being critical as well.

Between now and June 18, primaries and caucuses will be held in 21 states. Contests in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are next, on March 9.

The San Francisco Chronicle, in an editorial noting that the Democrats have emerged from the primary season with an unusual level of cohesion, said that Kerry does not have the intra-party wounds that often have burdened his predecessors. Calling the primary results "positive and substantive," the newspaper said there appears to be "a formidable nominee to challenge Bush and his policies."

As they were in the earlier primaries, Democratic voters will be driven in the upcoming events by a determination to oust Bush from office. Polls indicate that many of them have an unfavorable opinion of the president, even though he remains very popular among Republicans and many independents.

An editorial in USA Today says an angry voter base "is not enough to capture the presidency" because elections are won by attracting political moderates and independents, who comprise one-third of the electorate and who can be "turned off" by partisan rage. Both Kerry and Bush, the newspaper points out, face the similar challenge of appealing to independents while still keeping their loyal supporters energized.