Kerry Rolls, Edwards Folds

John Kerry all but wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, driving rival John Edwards from the race with a string of triumphs on the biggest night of the campaign season.

"We will win this election and we will build one America of freedom and fairness for all," the Massachusetts senator told cheering supporters in Washington, D.C., after scoring a near sweep of the Super Tuesday states.

Kerry won nine of the night's ten races, capturing primaries in California, Georgia, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio; he also won Minnesota's caucus.

His lone loss came in Vermont, where native son Howard Dean won his first primary of the campaign, despite the fact that he's officially dropped out of the race.

Together, the evening's contests totaled 1,151 of the 2,162 delegates needed to claim the Democratic nomination.

In a phone conversation with CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, Edwards confirmed that he would pull out of the race and said he still hopes to be president one day.

He planned to formally announce his departure on Wednesday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.

Speaking to supporters in Atlanta, Edwards called Kerry "my friend" and congratulated him for running "a strong, powerful campaign. He's been an extraordinary advocate for causes that all of us believe in."

Edwards is on top of many Democrats' list to be Kerry vice-presidential candidate, a topic that Kerry didn't touch Tuesday night.

"I have great respect for how he did and what he did and what he accomplished throughout this campaign," Kerry said of Edwards. "He's a tremendous competitor and a great voice for our party."

Kerry also received a congratulatory phone call from President Bush. "You had an important victory tonight," the president told Kerry, adding that he looked forward to a "spirited fight."

In his remarks, Kerry said he would campaign to repeal Mr. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, to raise the minimum wage, to protect the environment and to make health care more widely available.

Kerry said that if the president wants to make the race a referendum on national security, "Bring it on."

As in previous primaries, primary voters were angry with Mr. Bush and his administration – over half of today's voters described themselves this way – and they remained focused on finding a candidate to beat him, according to CBS News exit polls.

Kerry's emergence as the nominee of a united party marked an unpredictable end to a campaign of surprises.

He entered the race as the front-runner, then faltered to the point that his candidacy appeared doomed just days before the kickoff Iowa caucuses in January.

He fashioned a comeback for the ages to defeat his rivals there, then rode a powerful wave of momentum to triumphs in the New Hampshire primary and nearly every state that followed.

One by one, rivals Dick Gephardt, Joseph Lieberman, Wesley Clark and Howard Dean fell by the wayside. On Tuesday, so, too, Sen. John Edwards, dispatched to the sidelines by a string of defeats on Super Tuesday, the busiest day of the campaign season.

With eight months remaining to Election Day, Kerry leads President Bush in nationwide polls, although the Electoral College breakdown is less clear.

Mr. Bush plans to begin a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign Thursday to reverse his downward trend in public opinion polls.