Washington - Barack Obama declared victory in the Democratic
presidential nomination Tuesday night after a five-month battle with
Hillary Clinton, becoming the first African American to lead a major
political party into a general election in the United States.
Obama captured the majority of delegates needed to win the party's
nod on the final day of primaries in the bitterly contested
nomination battle with Clinton, who refused to concede defeat and
said she has made 'no decisions' about her political future.
His victory was projected by US broadcast networks immediately
after polls closed in South Dakota Tuesday night, which along with
Montana held the last in the series of state-by-state contests that
began with Iowa on January 3.
'Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the
Democratic nominee for president of the United States,' Obama told
cheering supporters in St Paul, Minnesota. 'Tonight we mark the end
of one historic journey with the beginning of another.'
Obama said he was convinced the Democratic Party would unite ahead
of November and praised Clinton - who had hoped to become the first
woman president - for a 'barrier-breaking campaign.'
'Our party and our country are better off because of her and I am
a better candidate for having had the honour to compete with Hillary
Rodham Clinton,' he said.
The hard-fought campaign lasted longer than any pundits predicted
at the outset, when Clinton was seen as the heir-apparent for the
nomination, and ended with the former first lady scrounging for every
last vote.
Each candidate gathered die-hard supporters over the past year,
many of whom have said they would be reluctant to vote for their
candidates' intra-party rival in November.
The polarized attitudes of such voters now leave Obama with the
task of reaching out to Clinton's supporters lest they vote for
Republican John McCain, known for his appeal to moderates across
party lines.
Obama began that task by trying to cast a positive light on the
long primary campaign.
'There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us
weaker and more divided. Well, I say that, because of this primary,
there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the
very first time,' he said.
Clinton, however, said only that she was 'congratulating Senator
Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have
run.'
'This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions
tonight,' Clinton said, drawing loud cheers from a defiant crowd of
supporters in New York.
Clinton appeared to have one last victory to her name, taking
South Dakota's primary. She led the state 56 per cent to 44 per cent
with 98 per cent of precincts reporting.
But the victory would not be enough to stop Obama from passing the
mark of 2,118 delegates required to win the nomination outright.
Broadcast predictions showed he also appeared to have won in
Montana, with 59 per cent of the vote to Clinton's 39 per cent with
27 per cent of precincts reporting.
Throughout the day a handful of super delegates - party leaders
and activists that cast their votes independently of the state
primaries - switched their allegiance to Obama, bringing him within
10 delegates of the clinching number before polls had even closed in
South Dakota and Montana.
McCain, who will face Obama in November, on Tuesday declared
'Tonight, we can say with confidence the primary season is over,
and the general election campaign has begun.'
He lost no time firing against Obama, taking him to task for
statements that he would meet with leaders of nations like Iran and
for his position on Iraq.
'I have a few years on my opponent,' McCain, 71, said. 'So I am
surprised that a young man has bought in to so many failed ideas.'
'This is, indeed, a change election,' he added, echoing Obama's
own campaign mantra. 'But the choice is between the right change and
the wrong change - between going forward and going backward.'
McCain joined Obama in congratulating Clinton for her
groundbreaking campaign.
As she ponders her next move, pundits began speculating before the
returns were in Tuesday about a possible bid for the vice
presidential slot. CNN reported that Clinton had told New York
lawmakers Tuesday that she would consider the number two spot if
asked by Obama.
USA
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