With Mike Huckabee's depature from the race, Senator John McCain is officially now our nominee.  I say officially despite the fact that he basically has been the defacto candidate after the February Super Duper Tuesday primary, because last night McCain secured the magic number of delegates.  Sort of like when a division leading baseball team everyone knows will go to the playoffs is not the official regular season champion of the division until they officially clinch.

Now the McCain has clinch, though he will face the temptation to go into just fundraising mode and not get his name and face out in some up coming swing states (ie Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, & New Mexico).  He needs to build the organizations he will need in the fall in these states, meet with local leaders and average voters, build enthusiasm in these states for his campaign, so that in the fall he will have a chance of taking each and all of these states from the Democrat nominee.

He also needs to keep his debate skills sharp by debating Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and other Republicans in both public and private.  This keep him sharp and removes the pissed off look he frequently displays on T.V. that does not go over well with some voters.  These mock debates should be used not only to refine the image he portrays in front of the cameras, but also give him the opportunity to get better acquainted with the issues.

Finally he needs to raise money and define both Hillary and Obama to box them in come November.  We saw how effective Arnold Schwartzeneggar did this in his defining Phil Angerlides after the June 2006 primary.  With Steve Schmidt running McCain's campaign operations I suspect we will see this implemented.

In summary, McCain has won, but cannot rest on his laurels, he must continue campaigning hard, sharpening his debate skilss, raise money and define his potential opponent, because November 2008 will be here faster than anyone realizes.