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.
"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."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket.
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 complete concession.
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."
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.
Gibbs 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 President George W. Bush and become the nation's 44th president.
Obama sealed his nomination tally, based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and support from party "superdelegates."
It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at this summer's convention in Denver, and Obama had 2,154.
There were more on the way, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, whom party officials said would make an endorsement yesterday.
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 blocks 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.
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, but Obama's aides were noncommittal.
"We're not in the presidential phase here. We're going to close out the nominating fight and then we'll consider that," David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist, told reporters.
Multiple sources told CNN that the Clinton campaign is planning on halting her bid for the presidency by the end of week, after an event thanking her supporters and endorsing Obama on Saturday.
© The Associated Press
