Obama secures Democratic nod

— -- Sen. Barack Obama, capping a seemingly improbable journey by a freshman senator from Illinois, clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night and promised to offer "a new direction for the country we love."

The 46-year-old Obama, the first black candidate to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House, faces Republican Sen. John McCain, 71, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, in the race to become the 44th U.S. president.

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," Obama said told a raucous rally in St. Paul. "Tonight I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States."

Obama wrapped up the nomination with delegates picked up in the South Dakota primary and Montana.

The victory came on a whirlwind day that brought a signal from his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, that she would be open to joining his ticket as a vice presidential candidate.

Clinton, speaking in New York City only minutes before Obama, offered something of a valedictory that traced the steps of the long campaign without conceding that the race was over.

"This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight," she told a wildly enthusiastic crowd in Manhattan. She said she would be consulting supporters and party leaders in the days ahead to determine her next move.

A final wave of pledges from superdelegates set up Obama's victory by allowing the results of the last contests to put him over the "magic number" of 2,118.

The Associated Press declared Obama the winner in Montana and Clinton the winner of the South Dakota contest.

As of 10:20 p.m. ET, with 48% of the precincts in South Dakota reporting, Clinton led Obama 56% to 44%.

In his remarks, Obama wasted no time in trying to unite a party fractured by 16 months of intense campaigning. He singled out Clinton for considerable praise.

He said Clinton has "made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight."