Even before 2pm EDT, the Democratic Party's race for the nomination is now over. Barack Obama has won the necessary amount of delegates to become the flag bearer going into the fall and towards the general election versus John McCain. Apparently the AP broke this story after the Clinton campaign denied their original story that Clinton was going to concede the race at her speech tonight at Baruch College here in New York City. Well it looks like the AP wasn't going to stand for that, and now we have this.
From the AP:
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.
Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial divisions within the party.
The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.
So although the official tally still has Obama with 30-40 delegates to go, the massive support from within the party already has him winning his race with Hillary Clinton. I admire her resoluteness, but the time to show her fighting spirit passed by a long time ago. Now it is time to back our nominee, Barack Obama.
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