McCain scrubs European trip to "wrap this thing up."

By Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff

PHOENIX -- Hoping to capitalize on his strong showing on Super Tuesday, John McCain said today that he had cancelled a planned trip to a national-security conference in Germany this weekend to focus on campaigning instead.

"I think we've got to wrap this thing up as quickly as possible," McCain said to reporters yesterday morning in Phoenix before departing for Washington, where he and Mitt Romney will address a key gathering of conservative activists tomorrow. Mike Huckabee is scheduled to addresss the group, the Conservative Political Action Comittee, on Saturday.

McCain’s aides said that they intend to compete in upcoming caucuses in Kansas and Washington and expect to enter next week's primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia with an advantage.

Virginia, however, a winner-take-all state with a demographic split between prosperous, moderate suburbs in the north, rural conservative turf in the south and a large coastal military presence, offers opportunities for all three candidates.

"I'm presuming Virginia will be the big battle of next Tuesday," said Charlie Black, a McCain strategist.

Yet, unlike Virginia, many of the remaining states will award their delegates on a proportional basis, which Black said denied a viable shot at the nomination for either of McCain's opponents.

"I see it as virtually impossible in the arithmetic," said Black.

"We'd have to drop out," chimed in Mark McKinnon, the campaign's media consultant.