Obama claims Democratic nomination

Obama’s victory came on the last day of the Democratic campaign schedule, as voters in South Dakota and Montana voted in the final primaries. But it was the decisions of the last unpledged party officials, known as superdelegates, who put Obama over the top.

Throughout the day, as Obama edged closer to the number of 2,118 delegates needed to win the nomination, more and more superdelegates relentlessly ticked over into his column, leading him to claim victory early in the evening.

Other notable black candidates have run for president, but it was Obama who broke through to be embraced by one of the two major parties, 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dream for a colorblind America.

Obama-Clinton ticket could be in the works
NBC News projected Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee at 9 p.m. ET, as polls closed in South Dakota. Clinton won the primary, but NBC said Obama would win at least six delegates — enough when combined with late superdelegate declarations.

Even though the race had been all but decided, record numbers of Democrats turned out in South Dakota, NBC affiliate KDLT of Sioux Falls reported, giving Clinton about 55 percent of their votes.

Interactive Superdelegate sampling Here's a look at some of the Democratic Convention's 796 superdelegates.

NBC later in the evening projected Obama as the winner in Montana, where he won 58 percent of the vote.

Throughout the day, meanwhile, as superdelegates kept falling into Obama’s column, speculation increased that McCain could be facing an Obama-Clinton unity ticket.  

In an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Clinton signaled an interest Tuesday in joining the ticket but stopped short of conceding, 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.

Aides to Clinton told NBC News that Clinton would seek a meeting with Obama as soon as possible, perhaps as early as Wednesday, when they could cross paths twice. First they will be in Washington to address the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and later they will be in New York for a round of party fundraisers.

But Obama’s top strategist, David Axelrod, said the campaign was not yet thinking about the vice presidential pick.

“We’re just savoring the night,” Axelrod told NBC News.

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