05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

WASHINGTON, Feb 4: Democratic front-runner John Kerry took a huge stride toward the presidential nomination on Tuesday with wins in five states, but victories by John Edwards and Wesley Clark kept the race alive.

John Kerry, riding a wave of momentum from back-to-back wins in the first two contests last month, won in Missouri, Arizona, Delaware, North Dakota and New Mexico as seven states voted on the biggest day yet in the race to find a challenger to President George Bush.

John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, and Wesley Clark, a retired general, scored wins in South Carolina and Oklahoma, respectively, throwing up at least temporary speed bumps on Mr Kerry's cruise to the nomination.

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, was shut out on Tuesday and pulled out of the race, saying "the judgment of the voters is now clear".

Fallen front-runner Howard Dean also went zero-for-Tuesday, but put a brave face on his poor showing and promised to keep "going and going and going".

Mr Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and decorated Vietnam veteran who had faced questions about whether he could compete nationwide, answered with strong finishes in seven states in the south, east, west and midwest.

"Now we will carry this campaign and the cause of a stronger, fairer, more prosperous America to every part of America," Mr Kerry said at a victory rally in Seattle.

"We will take nothing for granted, we will compete everywhere, and in November, we will beat George W. Bush," he said.-Reuters