It was hard to predict this outcome 16 months ago, and yet, here we are.
Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, according to CNN estimates, making him the first African-American in U.S. history to lead a major-party ticket.
Obama picked up a slew of superdelegate endorsements on Tuesday. Those endorsements, combined with the delegates he’s projected to receive from South Dakota’s primary, will put him past the 2,118 threshold, according to CNN estimates.
Obama will claim victory during a speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to prepared remarks released by his campaign.
“Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” he’s expected to say.
The campaign set out this morning to get enough superdelegates on board to let South Dakota and Montana put him over the top, and while we don’t yet know the results from either state, we do know Obama will do well enough to claim the magic number and win the nomination. (The AP has called South Dakota for Hillary Clinton, for what it’s worth.)
John McCain has wrapped up a dull and listless speech in New Orleans, Hillary Clinton will speak at Baruch College in New York City soon, and Obama will, of course, deliver a victory speech at the site of the Republican National Convention in Minnesota.
I remain one of those early-to-bed, early-to-rise types, but we’ll have full team coverage of the exciting developments — and the start of the general election phase of the campaign — first thing in the morning, and all day tomorrow. Until then, consider this an overnight open thread.
The floor is yours….