06/04/2008
Barack Obama took a huge stride toward becoming the first black U.S. president, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination on a promise of hope and change for Americans weary from economic turmoil and years of war.
Obama's victory sets up a November election contest against Republican John McCain that looks to be a clash of generations as well as a debate on Iraq.
Cheered by a roaring crowd, Barack Obama laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday night, taking a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president.
Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket without conceding her own defeat.
Speaking in the same Minnesota arena that will host the Republican nominating convention in early September, Obama declared the long, hard primary campaign as finally over, and himself, the Democratic nominee.
"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another, a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Because of you, tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for the President of the United States of America," he said to the crowd of supporters.
Obama reached the winning delegate figure of 2,118 from the final two primaries and new support from party officials and legislators.
He won Montana and Clinton took South Dakota on the closing day of a spellbinding, see-saw race that drew record turnouts and divided Democrats into intensely emotional camps.
Obama sought to heal some of the still-raw wounds with lofty praise for his rival.
"She has made history not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she is 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.
Obama now has five months to make his case in what promises to be a tumultuous election in a war-weary country with a fragile economy where Americans are deeply unhappy about the status quo.
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