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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Cheered by a roaring crowd, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night, taking a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation’s first black president. Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket without conceding her own defeat.
“America, this is our moment,” the 46-year-old senator and one-time community organizer said in his first appearance as the Democratic nominee-in-waiting. “This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.”
Clinton praised Obama warmly in an appearance before supporters in New York, although she neither acknowledged his victory in their grueling marathon nor offered a concession of any sort.
Instead, she said she was committed to a unified party, and said she would spend the next few days determining “how to move forward with the best interests of our country and our party guiding my way.”
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Obama’s victory set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a first-term Senate opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.
And both men seemed eager to begin.
McCain spoke first, in New Orleans, and he accused his younger rival of voting “to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job” in Iraq.”
Americans, he added, should be concerned about the judgment of a presidential candidate who has not traveled to Iraq yet “says he’s ready to talk, in person and without conditions, with tyrants from Havana to Pyongyang.”
McCain agreed with Obama that the presidential race would focus on change. “But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward,” he said.
Obama responded quickly, pausing in his own speech long enough to praise Clinton for “her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.”
As for his general election rival, he said, “It’s not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year. It’s not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs. ... And it’s not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave young men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians.”
In a symbolic move, Obama spoke in the same hall where McCain will accept the Republican nomination at his party’s convention in September.
Obama campaign officials, citing the local fire marshal, put the crowd at 17,000 inside the eXcel Energy Center, plus another 15,000 outside.
McCain addressed a smaller crowd by design, an estimated 600 in his audience and another 600 outside.
One campaign began as another was ending.
Clinton won South Dakota on the final night of the primary season; Obama took Montana. He later called Clinton to congratulate her on her victory. When she called back, Obama reiterated his offer to sit down at a time convenient for her, according to his spokesman, Robert Gibbs. He said there were no plans for a meeting on Wednesday.
Only 31 delegates were at stake in the two states on the night’s ballot, the final few among the thousands that once drew Obama, Clinton and six other Democratic candidates into the campaign to replace Bush and become the nation’s 44th president.
Obama sealed his nomination, according to The Associated Press tally, based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and support from party “superdelegates.”
It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at the convention in Denver this summer, and Obama had 2,154 by the AP count.
There were more on the way, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, whom party officials said would make an endorsement.
Additionally, party leaders readied a statement urging uncommitted superdelegates in Congress and among the ranks of governors to state their preference by Friday.
Several officials said that while they wanted to unify the party quickly, they were also determined not to appear to push Clinton out of the race, particularly since she will be returning to the Senate once her presidential bid is over.
Obama, a first-term senator who was virtually unknown on the national stage four years ago, defeated Clinton, the former first lady and one-time campaign front-runner, in a 17-month marathon for the Democratic nomination.
His victory had been widely assumed for weeks. But Clinton’s declaration of interest in becoming his ticketmate was wholly unexpected.
She expressed it in a conference call with her state’s congressional delegation after Rep. Nydia Velazquez, predicted Obama would have great difficulty winning the support of Hispanics and other voting blocs unless the former first lady was on the ticket.
“I am open to it” if it would help the party’s prospects in November, Clinton replied, according to participants.
Clinton’s comments raised anew the prospect of what many Democrats have called a “Dream Ticket” that would put a black man and a woman on the same ballot.
Giffords backs Obama
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president after the final Democratic primaries and caucuses concluded on Tuesday. The announcement was made in a news release from her campaign manager, Zach Wineburg.
In the release, Giffords said she has been “impressed by the intellect and patriotism” of Obama and fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, but that Obama has “emerged with more support.”
“In becoming a delegate for him, I recognize his inspiring and thoughtful leadership that brought him to the finish line,” she said in the release.
Giffords, a Democrat, represents Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District, which includes Cochise County. She is up for re-election, and her likely Republican opponent, state Senate President Tim Bee, is a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
Faithful wrote on Jun 5, 2008 10:56 AM:
The difference between you and me, is yes, we may all be thieves and liars (to include Obama and Skeptical), but I'm forgiven and know where I will spend eternity. Unfortunately for you, and your apparent stand on moral issues (by your vote for Obama), I know where you will spend your eternity. God bless your soul. "