As McCain awaits, nominee will seek to unite Democrats
— -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on the final day of an unprecedented primary season Tuesday, making history by prevailing over Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York senator once seen as the inevitable nominee.
Obama, who will be the first person of color nominated for national office by a major party, focused largely on the general election against Republican John McCain at his victory rally late Tuesday in St. Paul.
"Tonight, after 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end," Obama, 46, said to a huge outpouring of cheers and chants at a jammed arena. "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. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States."
In New York, Clinton didn't concede the race to Obama or end her campaign, saying she would leave that decision to another day, but she did begin her speech by congratulating him and his supporters "on the extraordinary race he has run." She added, "It has been an honor to contest these primaries with him."
Earlier in the day, she suggested for the first time that she was "open" to joining the ticket as his running mate. Clinton told New York legislators that might be a way for Obama to win over Hispanics and other crucial Democratic voting blocs that have backed her, according to a key ally, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
Her comments injected one more twist into what already was an extraordinary day in American politics. It included primaries in Montana and South Dakota, the final contests in a 16-month Democratic battle that broke records for fundraising, drew more than 35 million voters to the polls and spotlighted the nation's divisions of race, class and gender.
As Obama's campaign tracked Tuesday's results and unveiled a string of delegate endorsements that put the nomination in hand, he and his aides also were scrambling to deal with Clinton's remarks and to take on his new role as the party's presumptive nominee.
The day's contests ended in another split decision. Obama won Montana; Clinton, South Dakota.
However, party leaders known as superdelegates, among them former president Jimmy Carter, already had lined up behind Obama and pushed him over the 2,118 delegate total needed to be nominated before the polls closed in the Mountain West, where a total of 31 delegates were at stake.
Even as Obama declared victory over Clinton, it was clear that his complicated and often contentious relationship with the former first lady wasn't over. Her remarks about the No. 2 position on the ticket put her and the millions of supporters who wanted her to become the nation's first woman president at the top of the list of issues Obama must handle as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Obama lavished praise on Clinton in his remarks. Clinton's tone was more reserved as she invited her supporters to weigh in on their views of what she should do next. Still, she said, "I am committed to uniting our party."
Obama's other immediate concerns include a possible visit to U.S. troops in Iraq and the unveiling of a series of benchmark policy speeches as he launches his contest against McCain, the 71-year-old Arizona senator who clinched his nomination three months ago.
Scott Reed, who managed Republican Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996, ticks off a list of those and other immediate demands for Obama's attention.
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