NBC, MSNBC and news services
updated 2 minutes ago
Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House, The Associated Press reported based on its tally of delegates.
Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer?s Republican National Convention ? an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who would be his opponent in the race to become the nation?s 44th president.
Obama, 46, of Illinois, bested Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.
In an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Clinton signaled an interest Tuesday in joining the ticket as running mate but stopped short of conceding to Obama or dropping out of the race, participants told NBC News. On the call, Rep. Nydia Velasquez said she believed the best way for Obama to win over Latinos and members of other key voting blocs would be to take Clinton as his running mate.
?I am open to it,? Clinton replied, if it would help the party?s prospects in November, the participants said.
?Whatever is needed?
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a prominent Clinton supporter, told NBC News that ?certainly to the extent that she will do anything to win ... she?ll be available.?
Here's a look at some of the Democratic Convention's 796 superdelegates.
?She?ll do whatever is needed,? Rangel said. ?If people think it would help, she?d do it.?
Lisa Caputo, a longtime Clinton adviser, said Clinton ?knows the math just isn?t there, so everybody needs to be a realist.?
Caputo said in an interview with MSNBC?s Chris Matthews that Clinton would ?bring a lot of momentum to the ticket.?
?She brings the female vote in spades. She obviously brings the older vote,? Caputo said. ?She also brings the swing states; she's also bringing the Latino vote.?
Delegates needed
The AP said Obama sealed his victory based on public declarations from delegates as well as from an additional 22 who had confirmed their intentions to the news service. The count also included five delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 15 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.
NBC News has been maintaining its own tally of delegates, which showed Obama?s being 11 delegates short of the 2,118 needed. NBC News said it would not confirm Obama as the presumptive nominee until all private commitments by delegates were made public.
Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign.
?If he happens to get the numbers, then Hillary will congratulate him as the nominee,? Clinton?s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said on NBC?s TODAY. But campaign officials stressed that Clinton did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York.
Clinton will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, two senior officials told the AP, her campaign is over.
Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.
The advisers said Clinton had made a strategic decision to not formally end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with Obama on various matters, including the possible vice presidential nomination. She also wants to press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as health care, a point of dispute during their epic nomination fight.
Other names have been floated as possible running mates, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, both former presidential candidates, and several other governors, including Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Timothy Kaine of Virginia.
Obama could also look outside the party to such people as anti-war Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or independent New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Or he could look to one of his prominent supporters, such as former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, or try to bring on a Clinton supporter, such as Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana or retired Gen. Wesley Clark.
.................................................................
OBAMA WINS !!!!
updated 2 minutes ago
Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House, The Associated Press reported based on its tally of delegates.
Obama arranged a victory celebration at the site of this summer?s Republican National Convention ? an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who would be his opponent in the race to become the nation?s 44th president.
Obama, 46, of Illinois, bested Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.
In an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Clinton signaled an interest Tuesday in joining the ticket as running mate but stopped short of conceding to Obama or dropping out of the race, participants told NBC News. On the call, Rep. Nydia Velasquez said she believed the best way for Obama to win over Latinos and members of other key voting blocs would be to take Clinton as his running mate.
?I am open to it,? Clinton replied, if it would help the party?s prospects in November, the participants said.
?Whatever is needed?
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a prominent Clinton supporter, told NBC News that ?certainly to the extent that she will do anything to win ... she?ll be available.?
Here's a look at some of the Democratic Convention's 796 superdelegates.
?She?ll do whatever is needed,? Rangel said. ?If people think it would help, she?d do it.?
Lisa Caputo, a longtime Clinton adviser, said Clinton ?knows the math just isn?t there, so everybody needs to be a realist.?
Caputo said in an interview with MSNBC?s Chris Matthews that Clinton would ?bring a lot of momentum to the ticket.?
?She brings the female vote in spades. She obviously brings the older vote,? Caputo said. ?She also brings the swing states; she's also bringing the Latino vote.?
Delegates needed
The AP said Obama sealed his victory based on public declarations from delegates as well as from an additional 22 who had confirmed their intentions to the news service. The count also included five delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 15 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.
NBC News has been maintaining its own tally of delegates, which showed Obama?s being 11 delegates short of the 2,118 needed. NBC News said it would not confirm Obama as the presumptive nominee until all private commitments by delegates were made public.
Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign.
?If he happens to get the numbers, then Hillary will congratulate him as the nominee,? Clinton?s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said on NBC?s TODAY. But campaign officials stressed that Clinton did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York.
Clinton will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, two senior officials told the AP, her campaign is over.
Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.
The advisers said Clinton had made a strategic decision to not formally end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with Obama on various matters, including the possible vice presidential nomination. She also wants to press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as health care, a point of dispute during their epic nomination fight.
Other names have been floated as possible running mates, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, both former presidential candidates, and several other governors, including Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Timothy Kaine of Virginia.
Obama could also look outside the party to such people as anti-war Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or independent New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Or he could look to one of his prominent supporters, such as former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, or try to bring on a Clinton supporter, such as Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana or retired Gen. Wesley Clark.
.................................................................
OBAMA WINS !!!!
