| Obama Makes History | |
 by FOXNews.comTuesday, June 3, 2008 - Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, FOX News projects, becoming the first African-American to run for the nation's highest office as the standard bearer of a major political party. The Illinois senator won the final Democratic primary of the season in Montana Tuesday night, adding to the flow of superdelegates that put him over the 2,118 delegates it takes to become the nominee. Hillary Clinton won the South Dakota primary earlier. Obama declared Tuesday evening that "I will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States," speaking in St. Paul, Minn., the site of this summer's Republican National Convention. But Clinton, speaking in New York City Tuesday evening, did not concede the race. "This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decision tonight," she said to cheering supporters. She said she would meet with party leaders and supporters to determine how to go forward. In Montana, FOX News exit polls showed Obama beat Clinton in virtually every voting bloc. Clinton handily won the South Dakota contest. Early returns showed her leading Obama by 56-to-44 percent. Exit polls showed she ran especially well among elderly voters, female voters and voters who decided in the last three days. Obama appears to have been hurt by the controversy involving his church — almost 40 percent of voters said that his decision to leave the church was an important factor, and they preferred Clinton by 2-to-1. Polls closed in the two final primaries exactly five months after Obama wowed the political establishment with his lead-off Iowa caucus victory. But since the states together were only worth 31 delegates, far more attention was paid Tuesday to the avalanche of superdelegates that supposedly fell into Obama's camp throughout the day. The AP reported late in the day that Obama has 2,129, though that included private superdelegate commitments. Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain already took the opening shots at Obama, declaring Tuesday that "the general election campaign has begun" and saying: "This is, indeed, a change election ... But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward." McCain held a prime time speech Tuesday night in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, La., in what is essentially a kickoff to his fall campaign. The backdrop to his address was a new banner that read: "A Leader We Can Believe In" - a direct swipe at Obama's "Change We Can Believe In" slogan. McCain also deflected charges that he is running for a third Bush term. "Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again?" McCain said. "Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false. So he tries to drum it into your minds by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different directions he and I would take the country." Clinton aides denied that the campaign would pack it in Tuesday, but notably left the door open for what would happen come Wednesday. Clinton also said on a conference call with New York lawmakers Tuesday that she is "open" to being Obama's running mate if it would help the party. Advisers said she was withholding a formal departure from the race partly to use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the ticket. Sources familiar with the contents of the conference call told FOX News that there was a "sense of resignation" from Clinton. According to one participant on the call, Clinton acknowledged she did not have the delegate math to overtake Obama, but just wanted to take time to determine how to exit the race. Clinton supporter and New York Rep. Charlie Rangel talked up the concept Tuesday of an Obama-Clinton ticket Tuesday afternoon, telling FOX News she "will bring votes that Obama can't." "Clinton brings meat to the ticket," he said. "It's a dream ticket." In another signal that Clinton might be coming to terms with her situation, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said once Obama gets the majority of convention delegates, "I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him and call him the nominee." Ahead of Tuesday's concluding primaries, Obama sought to set the stage for reconciliation, praising Clinton's endurance and determination and offering to meet with her - on her terms - "once the dust settles" from their race. FOX News' Aaron Bruns, Major Garrett and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |
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