Obama Seals the Deal

The Democratic Party held its final primaries Tuesday, but Barack Obama wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Before the polls even closed, his campaign lined up a steady stream of superdelegate endorsements that, according to the Associated Press and others, put Obama over the top.

Read Obama’s victory speech here.

AP via Google:

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House. Vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton swiftly signaled an interest in joining the ticket as running mate.

Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer’s Republican National Convention—an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation’s 44th president.

The 46-year-old Obama outlasted Clinton in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.

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AP photo / Mike Derer