Fairfax Station, Va. ? Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts swept primaries in Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday, decisively defeating two Southern rivals near their home turf and all but assuring that he will be the Democratic Party nominee for president.

Kerry won easily in Virginia, taking more than 50 percent of the vote, followed by Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina with 27 percent and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas with 9 percent.

Kerry also breezed to victory in Tennessee. With 96 percent of the vote counted, he had 41 percent, Edwards 27 percent and Clark 23 percent.

After finishing third in both states, Clark decided to abandon his presidential bid, a campaign aide said late Tuesday night.

“General Clark has decided to leave the race,” said Matt Bennett, the Clark campaign’s communications director. “There was tremendous momentum for John Kerry, and the mountain got too steep to climb.”

Bennett said the decision was a difficult one and that the campaign opted to wait until all the returns were in before announcing the decision.

A formal announcement is planned today in Little Rock, Ark.

Kerry’s victories, his first in the South, gave him a new jolt of momentum as he heads into a showdown next week in Wisconsin that could leave him the acknowledged nominee of his party.

He enters the coming week having won five states in four days and 12 of the 14 that have voted so far. With Tuesday’s wins, he has shown political strength in every region of the country and among Democrats from all demographic, economic and racial groups.

More importantly, he approaches Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary without any clear threat to his nomination.

Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., flashes a thumbs-up as a crowd of supporters surrounds him during a victory party at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Kerry, who claimed victory Tuesday in both the Virginia and Tennessee primaries, widened his lead over his Democratic rivals and built on momentum from previous primary victories in Iowa, Missouri and New Hampshire.

As Clark’s campaign collapsed Tuesday evening, Edwards lost back to back in the region that he boasted was his “back yard.” Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, winless in 14 states, didn’t even contest Virginia or Tennessee and was hoping for a comeback in Wisconsin that showed no sign yet of materializing.

“Once again the message rings out loud and clear,” Kerry told supporters in Fairfax, Va. “Americans are voting for change, East, West, North, and now, in the South.”

Kerry focuses on Bush

The nomination virtually within his grasp, Kerry focused on President Bush rather than Democratic rivals as he ticked off states vital to a fall election victory.

“From Missouri to Wisconsin to Ohio, from the heartland to both coasts, the wreckage of the Bush economy is all around us,” Kerry said. “To all of America we say tonight, get ready, a new day is on the way.”

Though it will take several more weeks of voting for Kerry to clinch the nomination mathematically, Tuesday’s voting confirmed that Democrats around the country are largely ratifying the choice made in the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire.

And with an accelerated primary calendar set up by the party to wrap up the nomination quickly, voters in late-voting states could be left without a voice in the process.

“Kerry is in like Flint,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “He can get started on a very tough campaign in the fall.”

Sabato said Clark was “obliterated” with his distant third-place finishes. He also said Edwards “is out, too. When you get beat 2 to 1 in two states next to yours by a Massachusetts liberal and you’re the Southern candidate, it’s impossible to defend.”

Edwards still in

Edwards, whose one victory came in South Carolina a week earlier, vowed to stay in the race despite his losses Tuesday.

He flew to Milwaukee on Tuesday night to get a quick start courting Wisconsin voters. His aides speculated that Clark would withdraw, leaving Edwards alone to challenge Kerry — but they didn’t include Dean in their political calculus.

“With a narrower field, we’ll get to Wisconsin, where we’ll be better able to distinguish ourselves,” said David Axelrod, an aide to Edwards. “We’ve always viewed this as kind of an elimination tournament. The field winnows down and then you’ll get down to a final two. We anticipate being one of those final two.”

He called Kerry’s momentum “pretty impressive.” But he said Kerry would be slowed as the field of candidate narrows and voters have fewer choices.