Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, June 4, 2008

'America, this is our moment': Obama seals nomination

Associated Press

 ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sen. Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination in a victory speech Tuesday that taunted Republicans on their own turf and reached out to heal Democratic wounds with lofty praise for his rival.

"America, this is our moment," the 46-year-old senator 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."

Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters in the same arena that will host the Republican nominating convention in early September, Obama said the long, hard primary campaign, now finally ended, should help steel a deeply divided party to do more effective battle against Republicans and their candidate, Sen. John McCain.

"Senator Hillary (Rodham) Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight," Obama said.

"Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete" with her, he said.

In the final two primaries, Clinton won South Dakota while Obama prevailed in Montana.

Obama won a mathematical lock on the nomination as previously undeclared superdelegates -- elected and party officials -- flocked to his side on the day of the last presidential primaries.

With 2,118 delegates need to clinch the nomination, Obama has 2,154, according to an Associated Press count that includes undeclared delegates and superdelegates who privately told the AP they intend to support Obama.

Obama's victory speech minced no words about McCain.

"In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. ... My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign."

Obama challenged McCain's claims of independence, noting he voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time last year.

"There are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new," Obama said. "But change is not one of them."

In a speech in Louisiana, McCain disputed the notion.

"Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false," McCain said.

Reuniting a party divided by the marathon, 17-month battle between the two historic candidates -- a woman and a black man -- will be a top challenge for the Illinois senator as he moves into a general election race with McCain.

"After 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end," Obama said, recalling the day in February 2007 when he announced his candidacy at the Illinois Capitol and the millions who have voted since then.

"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States," he said. That line brought down the house.

The young Illinois senator's success amounted to a victory of hope over experience, earned across an enervating 56 primaries and caucuses that tested the political skills and human endurance of all involved.

Obama stood for change. Clinton was the candidate of experience, ready, she said, to serve in the Oval Office from Day One.

Obama drew strength from blacks, and from the younger, more liberal and wealthier voters in many states. Clinton was preferred by older, more downscale voters and women.

Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy -- all harnessed to his own gifts as an inspirational speaker.

Primary results

MONTANA

64 percent of precincts reporting from Tuesday's primary:

DEMOCRATS

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: 40 percent

Sen. Barack Obama: 58 percent

REPUBLICANS

Sen. John McCain: 78 percent

Rep. Ron Paul: 20 percent

SOUTH DAKOTA

DEMOCRATS

99 percent of precincts reporting from Tuesday's primary:

Clinton: 55 percent

Obama: 45 percent

REPUBLICANS

McCain: 70 percent

Others: 17 percent

NEW MEXICO

93 percent of precincts reporting from Tuesday's Republican primary:

McCain: 86 percent

Ron Paul: 14 percent

Delegate tally

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: 1,919.5

*Sen. Barack Obama: 2,154

Needed to nominate: 2,118

Total delegate votes: 4,234

* Number includes undeclared delegates and superdelegates who privately told the Associated Press that they intend to vote for Obama.

Washington state superdelegates

Washington state's 17 Democratic superdelegates and their endorsements:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee, and Democratic Party Vice-chairwoman Eileen Macoll

Sen. Barack Obama: Gov. Chris Gregoire; U.S. Reps. Adam Smith, Brian Baird, Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott; State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz; Democratic National Committee Member Pat Notter; Democratic National Committee member David McDonald; and King County Executive Ron Sims

Undeclared: Democratic National Committee member Ed Cote, Democratic National Committee member Sharon Mast and former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley

Associated Press
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA