John McCain introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate at a noon rally here Friday.

“My friends and fellow Americans, I am very pleased and very privileged to introduce to you, the next vice president of the United States, Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska,” McCain told a capacity crowd of 12,000 at the Nutter Center.

On a historic night for America, Barack Obama secured the Democratic Party's nomination for president and emerged for the first time on stage in Denver with running mate Sen. Joe Biden.

Obama on Wednesday officially became the first African American to lead a major party ticket.

Delegates cried and cheered as former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton motioned to cut the roll call vote short, saying "Let's declare together with one voice right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president."

Barack Obama faced two critical questions: where to play and how to pay.

To answer both, the Democrat reversed course to become the first candidate to reject $85 million in public money for the general election, a decision that will allow the record-shattering fundraiser to raise as much as he can and spend as much as he wants — and, thus, implement his strategy to expand the Electoral College playing field.

Sen. Barack Obama is bracing for the general election fight, and conservatives are likely to throw some jabs at his wife Michelle Obama as well.

Conservatives view the presumptive Democratic nominee's wife as a target of opportunity.

But one Republican consultant said attacks on candidates' wives often backfire.

For better or worse — and many Democrats fear it is for worse — the race goes on.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania on Tuesday by enough of a margin to continue a battle that Democrats increasingly believe is undermining their effort to unify the party and prepare for the general election against Senator John McCain.

Amid signs Democrats are increasingly ready for the bitter race to end, Pennsylvania voters are making their choice Tuesday for the party's next presidential nominee.

Polls opened this morning across the state and remain open until 8 p.m. ET, after last-minute campaigning by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Republicans also hold a primary today, but John McCain has clinched the party nomination.

By MICHAEL GRUNWALD
There used to be an organization for people who believed in a truly limited government — limited taxes, limited spending, limited interference in individual lives and limited intervention in foreign affairs. That organization was known as the Republican Party. But the only one of those beliefs that still motivates the G.O.P. establishment is limited taxes. In 2008, people who still hold all of them joined the Ron Paul Revolution.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will suspend his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP sources tell CNN.

Romney had won 270 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with front-runner John McCain's 680.

Romney had no public events Wednesday and instead met with aides to discuss strategy to stay in the race through March 4.

"It is tough to saddle up this a.m.," one Romney adviser told CNN the morning after his disappointing Super Tuesday finish.

Sen. John McCain cemented his Republican front-runner status Tuesday, piling up big wins coast-to- coast, according to CNN projections.

Democratic voters remain evenly split on Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama for their party's nomination.

The presidential races head to key primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia next Tuesday. The candidates hope to gain momentum for those with victories in the Louisiana primaries and Washington state caucuses on Saturday.

In what could be a pivotal day for the Democratic and Republican White House hopefuls, voters coast to coast will head to the polls in 24 states and American Samoa Tuesday.

Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day, and some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.

More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.