Al Franken has successfully weathered a series of personal controversies, at least for now, with Minnesota Democrats officially endorsing him as their candidate at today's state party convention.

Franken entered the convention as the frontrunner, and then benefitted from a unanimous show of support after his only remaining opponent dropped out of the race and endorsed him at the last minute.

In the tradition of Minnesota politics, the official party endorsement will effectively end much of the criticism Franken has received from within Democratic ranks. Recent controversies have involved sexually-explicit humor in an essay he wrote years ago for Playboy, as well as accounting problems in his businesses that led to him paying back taxes to all the states where he was active.

Franken narrowly trails incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in the polls, and could potentially score a pick-up in this blue state.

Here's Hillary Clinton's concession speech:

Obama watched the speech on the Internet and put in a call to her after it concluded, we're told. He was informed by her assistant that she was, understandably, speaking with supporters at the time.

And here's Obama statement...

"Obviously, I am thrilled and honored to have Senator Clinton's support. But more than that, I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run. She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams. And she inspired millions with her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the cause of working Americans. Our party and our country are stronger because of the work she has done throughout her life, and I'm a better candidate for having had the privilege of competing with her in this campaign. No one knows better than Senator Clinton how desperately America and the American people need change, and I know she will continue to be in the forefront of that battle this fall and for years to come."

As rough as Hillary's tactics may have been at times, does anyone doubt that Obama is right to say that he's a better candidate -- a far better one -- for having gone up against her for so long? His people definitely know this.

Meanwhile, Obama thanks Hillary online over on his Website....

Aside from her passionate insistence that her supporters get behind Barack Obama, I think this might be the most important line in her speech:

"Our lives, our freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected and best advanced when we do work together. That is what we will do now, as we join forces with Sen. Obama and his campaign. We will make history together as we write the next chapter in America's story."

In saying that it's time to "write the next chapter in America's story," Hillary was using Obama's own language, words he's repeatedly used to describe his own historic Presidential bid.

In a sense, this was perhaps the ultimate concession: Presuming Obama wins the White House, she acknowledged, the next chapter in America's story will not be the one she intended to write, but the one Obama is writing.

And she's now going to help him write that next chapter. It's really the most powerful message she could have sent to her supporters: It's not our time; it's theirs; and as difficult as it may be to accept, we're going to help them make it happen.

Late Update: Come to think of it, that might be the real significance of this line from her speech:

"I am standing with Barack Obama to say, `Yes, we can!'"

"We," according to Hillary, now comprises Obama's supporters and hers.

It needs to be said that Hillary struck an extraordinarily difficult balancing act with real grace and eloquence. On the one hand, she needed to signal that she has built a movement of her own and to reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leader of American women -- both as a genuine point of pride and as proof of her undiminishing influence. Hence the repeated references to the 18 million votes she earned.

Yet she needed to do this while signaling unequivocally to her supporters that all the energy and passion she's unleashed now has to be channeled towards delivering the prize she and her supporters coveted with such intensity to someone who has been her bitter rival for nearly 18 months.

And she pulled it off. Really an extraordinary performance.

Late Late Update: The front page of Hillary's Web site now features the Obama line I flagged above...

Late Update: Obama responds.

Late Update: I wrote above that Hillary was trying to "reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leader of American women." I didn't mean to imply that she does in fact occupy this role; merely that she is trying to advance the idea that she does.

Nonetheless, I should have written this differently. What I meant was that she is trying to reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leading woman in American politics.

An interesting line from Hillary during the speech:

And although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

Hillary's claim that she won the popular vote has been widely ridiculed and disputed, of course. But what's been missing from the discussion is that her popular vote total really was a genuine point of pride for her, something she saw -- and sees -- as a genuine achievement to cling to even as a dream she's harbored for God knows how long lies in ruins.

Hillary endorses Obama, leaving no room whatsoever for anyone to argue that she doesn't want her supporters to get behind him with every bit of energy and zeal they showed in backing her own candidacy.

"The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," she says.

"Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won, and the extraordinary race he has run," she continues. "I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me."

"I am standing with Barack Obama to say, `Yes, we can!'"

Her speech in Washington, where she will concede defeat and endorse Obama, starts in moments. Watch it streamed live here.

What today's speech really represents is the kick-off of the grueling battle that will unfold over her supporters. John McCain's campaign advisers say they plan to compete aggressively for them, and indeed they are already conducting focus groups among Hillary supporters in key battleground states:

Republicans plan to describe Obama as an elitist from the Hyde Park section of Chicago, where liberal professors mingle in an academic world that is alien to most working-class voters. They plan to make sure Clinton's voters do not forget about Obama's comments that working-class people are bitter and cling to their guns and religion as a way of dealing with the economic uncertainty they face....

In recent days, the Republican campaign has held focus groups in the Rust Belt and Appalachian states where Obama's messages of hope and change failed to translate into votes, including one session in Pittsburgh -- Obama lost in Pennsylvania to Clinton, and it will almost surely be a critical swing state in the fall. McCain advisers said they found a palpable unease with Obama among those groups.

So today Hillary's speech will be closely watched for signs of how ardently -- and how effectively -- she makes Obama's case. Now that the McCain team has signaled that they are going to aggressively compete for her supporters, Hillary's actions today and in coming weeks could end up having a palpable impact, whether she effectively rallies her supporters behind Obama, or alternatively, whether she fails to this.

We'll be blogging Hillary's speech here.

As may know, Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ), who just lost a long-shot primary bid for the Senate against incumbent Frank Lautenberg, has made a serious accusation against the Hillary Clinton campaign -- and he doesn't appear to want to elaborate on the subject beyond that.

Andrews, a centrist who had been supporting Hillary in the primaries, told the Newark Star-Ledger that a high-ranking member of the Clinton camp approached him in the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary about using a strategy to exploit divisions between Jews and blacks, as a way of increasing Hillary's share of the Jewish vote in that big primary.

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Is it possible that the bogus Michelle Obama rumor you've all heard by now is actually based on a work of fiction?

The rumor in question is one that's been circulating in recent weeks to the effect that there's video out there of Michelle Obama saying something derogatory about white people.

Not a single shred of evidence has surfaced to support this claim. Nobody has actually said they've personally seen it. It hasn't been posted to YouTube as you'd expect on something this juicy. Even Republican operatives we've spoken to say they don't believe it exists.

Despite the tenuousness of this rumor, Obama was actually asked about this non-existent video in front of the national press by a reporter the other day. Understandably, he pushed back hard on the notion that he should have to answer such a question.

Now Jim Geraghty of National Review has claimed that the rumor may be based on...fiction. A political thriller called The Power Broker, published in 2006 by Stephen Frey, features the presidential campaign of Dem candidate Jesse Wood, who's aspiring to be the country's first African-American president.

We went out and got the book. And sure enough, in the novel, Wood's opponents discover video of the candidate himself -- not his wife -- discussing with a radical black minister how he will "f--- whitey" when he gets into office, despite all his public rhetoric about racial reconciliation. Here's what he says on the fictional tape:

He said, "You know, I had to put up with so much crap from Whitey when I was playing tennis back in the day, it was ridiculous. Real b****** stuff, too. Tennis racquets busted while I was in the shower, no towels, the worst locker, called n***** all the time, even by the help." He looked over at Osgood. "I'm telling you, Clarence, if I get elected president, I'm gonna act the way I'm supposed to act in front of the camera. Smile and dance like a good black man, do what I'm expected to do like a good boy. But behind the scenes, I'll f*** Whitey, and I'll f*** him good, I really will."

If this was the basis for the rumor, Obama was forced to respond not just to a rumor, but to one that was consciously based on a published work of fiction. Welcome to General Election 2008, everyone!

CNN releases more numbers from today's poll:

The general election season opens with a neck-and-neck race between Barack Obama and John McCain, with more than one in five voters admitting that they might change their minds between now and November.

In the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted entirely after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee, he leads his Republican counterpart 49 to 46 percent among registered voters -- a statistical tie, given the question's 3 point margin of error.

The numbers are the first taken entirely since Obama clinched the nomination.

We've already been through a 500-day Democratic Primary with more twists and turns than a Slinky. Now get ready for a five month battle with the Republicans over at least a fifth of the national electorate.

With some polls showing that Obama holds a sizable advantage over McCain on the economy, the Obama campaign is moving to get the upper hand on the issue by announcing a two-week economic swing beginning Monday called the "Change that works for you" tour.

Today's CNN poll showed that the economy dwarfs even Iraq as a concern in this election, finding that 42% of registered voters cited the economy as the thing that will be the most important in their choice for president, versus only 24% who cited Iraq.

The first stop is in Raleigh, North Carolina. More details when we get them.

The team tasked to find Obama the right veep swings into action:

Congressional sources tell NBC News that Obama's vice presidential vetting team of Jim Johnson, Caroline Kennedy, and Eric Holder will be on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday interviewing senators and members of Congress about their recommendations. Those being visited are NOT potential choices.

The point, according to Senate offices, is to collect information about a potential field.

One interesting dimension to this: The question of how senators or Members of Congress will navigate pressure from their own constituents to advocate for making Hillary Veep, should there be any.

A CNN poll released today found that 54% of registered Dems think Obama should name her as Veep, while 43% opposed it. Sixty percent of Democratic women favored it.

Has the Obama campaign flip-flopped on the "surge"? Did Obama wrongly predict last year that the "surge" would fail, only to see his advisers argue today that people always knew it would be a success?

The McCain campaign is trying to turn this allegation into a central campaign issue as a way to sow doubts about Obama's judgment and fitness to be commander in chief. But a quick look at the charge shows it to be a stretch.

The McCain campaign today blasted out to reporters this quote from Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs on MSNBC this morning...

"[W]ell, there's no doubt that the security situation has improved, much as everybody admitted it would if we put more troops on the ground."

The McCain camp is arguing that this is a re-write of history by the Obama camp, and is pointing to this quote from Obama back in January 2007, when the surge was first being debated...

"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Indeed, here's the rest of what Obama said in 2007 (that the McCain camp cut from his quote):

"I think it takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there."

So Obama's larger point was a prediction that the surge wouldn't solve the need for political accommodation, not a military prediction.

In the latest bit of trouble in Al Franken's quest to pick up a blue-state Senate seat for the Democrats, Franken has apologized for offending anybody with his 2000 comedy essay in Playboy.

The essay, entitled "Porn-O-Rama," was hammered by state Republicans, who charged that Franken had no respect for women or family values in light of the piece's series of dirty jokes. Their condemnations were then followed by Democrats, starting with Rep. Betty McCollum and then Sen. Amy Klobuchar and the state Planned Parenthood, many of whom saw it as a political liability that Franken would have to address.

"I'm proud of my career as a satirist, which doesn't mean every joke I've ever told was funny, or, indeed, appropriate," Franken said in a statement sent to us by his campaign. "I understand and regret that people have been legitimately offended by some of the things I've written."

Franken has weathered a downturn in the polls in his quest to win this crucial Senate seat, but recently started closing in on GOP incumbent Norm Coleman again.

Full statement after the jump.

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Hillary will endorse Obama tomorrow at noon, at the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C. It will almost certainly receive wall-to-wall coverage.

The moment will come exactly one year and 137 days since she released this YouTube on January 22, 2007, announcing her candidacy...

It will have taken Obama 502 days to defeat Hillary and her formidable political operation and get her concession.

But defeat her he did.

Adam Parkhomenko, the head of the Obama-Hillary-ticket-supporting group VoteBoth, tells me that on Monday, he'll announce via press release that his group has collected over 25,000 signatures in support of the idea.

He'll also announce that VoteBoth's petition has been signed by supporters in every one of all 50 states, and that it's picked up 15,000 new signatures in the last three days.

"Every day, we're getting thousands of these signatures," he says. "Maybe when we get to 100,000 we'll present it. We're building it every day."

Parkhomenko also claims the VoteBoth Web site is getting between 30,000 and 40,000 unique visits a day now. The group yesterday announced that former Hillary adviser Lanny Davis had joined the effort.

The question for the group now is whether it can attract high-profile neutral parties, or, even more ideally, high-profile Obama supporters, to speak officially for the group and its goals. It also remains to be seen whether the group can raise real money, perhaps to finance an ad campaign of some kind.

Late Update: I just checked with an online activism guru I trust, Tim Tagaris, who was Ned Lamont's Internet director and did the same for Chris Dodd's Presidential camapign, and he had this to say about the numbers:

For all the attention, free media, and direct links VoteBoth has received in the past few days, 25,000 signatures on a petition is really not that impressive.

You're talking about campaigns that have millions of people on their email lists. I've been a part of plenty of online campaigns, a lot lower profile than this election, like FISA for example, that have received many times the signatures in less time.

Late Late Update: Parkhomenko responds to Tagaris by saying that they'd only emailed a few thousand to solicit signatures. "Twenty thousand have never gotten an email," he says, adding that this "shows how much potential there is."

"I don't think anyone would say that the first 25,000 that lined up behind Senator Obama didn't translate into a movement," he adds. "We are excited to see our support continue to grow at the rate it is."

The McCain campaign is touting an email that Joe Lieberman sent out to McCain's list announcing a new effort that Lieberman is chairing called "Citizens for McCain," whose chief mission is to reach out to Independents and moderate Dems.

Never mind all the narcissistic boilerplate in the email about how independent Lieberman is, and focus instead on this key line...

As you know, I caucus with the Democrats as a United States Senator and was the Democrat Party's nominee for Vice-President of the United States against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

What's so amusing is this is that it's a kind of double-slur. It's simultaneously a reminder that the Democratic Party bestowed on Lieberman the high honor of nominating him as Veep and a reminder that despite this Lieberman cheerfully continues to echo the most inane and childish of GOP attacks on that same party.

As Steve Benen cracked: "Maybe Obama needs to back him up against another wall."

Or, maybe, you know, perhaps the fellow who is the head of the Senate Dems and who is responsible for maintaining Lieberman's plum committee slots might consider dealing with this one day? Naah.

Hendrik Hertzberg's valuable rundown on why "Democrat Party" is a slur is here. Full email after the jump.

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Yesterday I linked to a new poll finding that 45% of African Americans would support Hillary on the ticket -- something which, I suggested, could mean that African Americans aren't perhaps all that embittered about the racial tactics Hillary was accused of using.

Well, today brings a new Gallup poll that suggests the opposite in striking terms, finding that Hillary's favorability rating has dropped an astonishing 26 points since June of last year...

Her fave rating dropped from 84% in June of 2007 to 58% today. Meanwhile, her unfavorable rating jumped from 10% to 36%, which is more than a third.

This is subtle. Take a look at John McCain's first ad of the general election:

"Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain tells the camera. "I was shot down over Vietnam and spent five years as a POW. Some of the friends I served with never came home. I hate war. And I know how terrible its costs are."

The key to understanding this, I think, is that McCain is using his bio to achieve separation from George W. Bush. He's suggesting -- without saying directly -- that even if he's continuing Bush's war policies, he's different from Dubya in that he understands the costs in a way that Bush never did.

The subtext: "Even if that reckless chicken-hawk took us to war, someone who actually understands and has experienced the costs of war -- someone you can actually believe -- is here to tell you that we must continue it."

Tellingly, there's no mention of Iraq in this particular spot. The McCain campaign claims it's a significant buy, with the ad airing on cable and in key swing states. Details to follow later today.

Money is expected to have a key place in the peace-making process between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, with Clinton advisers telling the Associated Press that Hillary will likely seek Obama's help in retiring her campaign's $30 million in debt.

For the sake of clarity, it's worth pointing out that the Obama campaign cannot directly give money from its own treasury to the Clinton camp. Instead, Obama would ask his top fundraisers to help bring in the money, and likely send out e-mails to his much-praised list of small donors asking them to give Hillary a hand.

John McCain is stepping up the rhetoric in his effort to pitch himself as the candidate of substance against Barack Obama's empty style, making an interesting historical reference in an interview with USA Today.

"I believe that people are interested very much in substance," McCain said, contrasting himself against Barack Obama's charismatic style. "If it was simply style, William Jennings Bryan would have been president."

It's unclear just how relevant this comparison will be to the average American. No voters alive today can remember Bryan's campaigns for president, which occurred in 1896, 1900 and 1908.

One key Democratic name has already taken himself out of the race to be Barack Obama's running mate: Former rival John Edwards. "I already had the privilege of running for vice president in 2004, and I won't do it again," Edwards said, according to Spanish-language newspaper El Mundo.

Regarding a certain other person who has been mentioned as a possibility, Edwards made sure to stay neutral. "Hillary Clinton is a great force in the Democratic Party and in the United States, whether she aspires to the vice-presidency or to another position," he said. "She is an extraordinary woman, and the role she will play depends only on her and Sen. Obama."

The efforts at post-primary reconciliation have reached another step tonight, with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton reportedly having met at the Clintons' Washington home.

At this point one can only guess what subjects came up. Reasonable guesses would include, among other things: VP talk, finding roles for her supporters/staffers within his general election campaign, and getting help from his vast fundraising resources in retiring her campaign debts.

Late Update: Here are some late details from the meeting. It turns out the meeting wasn't at the Clintons' Washington home, but instead at the home of California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who had been a staunch Hillary backer. The two candidates met alone, without Feinstein in the room, and only water was served.

"Just them. No staff," Feinstein said. "There were no press, no staff. They had one person from each campaign that was in my study separately and I guess the security people outside. They got along very well."

And here's the joint statement from the two candidate:

"Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November."

The race for the House seat of Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY), whose personal scandals spurred his sudden retirement, just got a whole lot wackier as GOP candidate Francis "Frank" Powers Sr. is getting a new challenger: Libertarian candidate Francis "Fran" Powers Jr., his very own son.

The Staten Island Advance reports that the younger Powers, age 47, announced he is running as a Libertarian in order to stop his father from getting elected and being able to help further Republican policies. "I'm not going to say that my dad treated me bad when I was a kid," Fran Powers said. "I know his policies. I'm running against someone I know."

Powers Sr., needless to say, is taken aback by this development. "I've tried very hard for many years to help my son," he said in a statement. "Unfortunately, he's rejected everyone's help to live a healthy lifestyle."

More Dem elected officials continue to coalesce behind Obama: A bloc of four Members of Congress from Florida who previously backed Hillary -- including one of Hillary's most loyal supporters -- is coming out for Obama, one of their spokespeople confirms to me.

The four are Alcee L. Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kendrick B. Meek, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a very committed Hillary loyalist.

While its hardly surprising that Dem elected officials are coming out for Obama right now -- the entire New York Congressional delegation endorsed him today -- the support of these Florida Reps. is key, because they might be able to help soothe voters in this crucial state that are still upset about the failure to seat the full Florida delegation. The Obama camp advocated for a half-seating.

"It is with enthusiasm and excitement that we endorse Barack Obama for President," the four will say in a statement soon to go out to reporters that will also ask Obama to "do everything in his power" to seat the full delegations at the convention.

"All of us standing on one stage, hand-in-hand will send a clear message to Florida voters that regardless of who we previously supported, we stand united and as one from this day forward," the statement says.

This is really something. We already knew that House Dems are expected to rack up major victories this fall, but this latest development is really eye-opening.

The Cook Political Report, whose ratings of Congressional races are well-respected by political pros, has just changed its ratings on ten House races -- and has changed them all in favor of the Dems.

It's very rare that Cook flips so many ratings at once -- much less flipping them all in favor of the same political party.

Check out the list of races, right after the jump.

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The Hillary camp -- perhaps sensing that all the calls from Hillary supporters for her to be made Veep are now hurting more than helping -- moves to distance itself from all such efforts by sending out this statement from Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson...

"While Senator Clinton has made clear throughout this process that she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to the White House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her. The choice here is Senator Obama's and his alone."

This was probably made necessary by the fact that VoteBoth, a group devoted to bringing about an Obama-Hillary ticket, announced today that senior adviser Lanny Davis had joined its effort.

Of course, it's perfectly likely that figures like Davis -- and many other Clinton supporters calling for her to be made Veep -- are acting independently here. The problem, however, is that it doesn't look like this is the case. And that's the rub, since any perception that Hillary is trying to force Obama's hand through whatever channels only makes the possibility that he'll offer the slot to her more remote.

Inquiring minds want to know if there is anything at all that Joe Lieberman could say about the Democratic presidential nominee that would get Harry Reid to tap the Connecticut Senator on the shoulder and say, "Psst -- hey bud, you enjoy your senior committee slots at my pleasure, so watch it."

It's a question that many Democrats are asking right now, in the wake of Lieberman's aggressive foreign policy attacks on Barack Obama yesterday. Even Obama himself took Lieberman aside and privately rebuked him yesterday.

Now Reid himself has been asked about this, and he told reporters that, yes, he has given Lieberman a talking-to of sorts...

"I've had conversations with Lieberman at some length. I'm not going to discuss the conversations here. But I think the discussions he had with Obama yesterday and the discussions he had with me yesterday were fruitful. We'll let the future decide what it's going to be, but I'm not about to threaten anybody."

"Fruitful," huh? Anyone who thinks Reid will put any kind of pressure on Lieberman behind the scenes is just kidding himself. It isn't going to happen, and Lieberman will continue to attack Obama -- and soon enough will start portraying him as too weak to defend the country -- secure in the knowledge that the only thing that will happen to him is that he'll get more press attention for it.

A quick note to readers: With the general election beginning, we're hoping that you guys will help us with our coverage by tipping us off to what's going on in the presidential race -- and in the Congressional races -- in your states.

We want to know what you are seeing on the ground from the state operations of both presidential campaigns -- Republican and Democratic. Mailers, ads, surrogate action, weird or revealing coverage in the local papers or on the local TV channels, materials being spread by independent groups -- we want to hear about it all.

If you see anything you think is interesting, shoot us an email at talk@talkingpointsmemo.com.

You can help us make the site more useful, more informative, more fun -- in short, better. And thanks in advance for your help.

Signaling a very aggressive effort to outflank John McCain on the question of who's the genuine reformer in the race, the Obama camp is already trumpeting the DNC's decision to nix lobbyist and PAC contributions as proof of his superiority on campaign finance reform.

The Obama camp sends out this strongly worded statement from Obama himself...

"I've sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs," Senator Obama said. "And today, I'm announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won't take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States."

Obama is openly asserting that the DNC's decision was made at his behest, an effort to project a sense that he's forcefully grabbing the party's levers of power and remaking it in his own reformist image. "John McCain has not adopted any such standards," the Obama campaign statement adds.

In an indication that Dems perhaps can't count on John McCain to be all that underfunded for the general election, McCain was able to raise $22 million in May, his best month yet, and up from $18.5 million raised in April.

Barack Obama's May numbers aren't in yet, but it seems likely that he'll have outdone McCain's numbers when one consider he raised $30.7 million in April.

On the other hand, while Obama is still quite likely to out-raise McCain over the whole cycle, at this point it's by no means a safe bet that it'll be a truly overwhelming advantage.

Late Update: The latest numbers show that McCain has $31.5 million total cash on hand. In short, money will probably not be a huge problem for him this Fall.

Here's the statement, sent over by Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton:

"Senator Obama appreciates the hard work that Chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grassroots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward."

Historically, a DNC chair's tenure is uncertain once a nominee is chosen, since said nominee might want to install his own guy there, but as Ben Smith notes, Dean has a power base built up among state party chairs across the country who love his 50-state strategy of investing in them.

The DNC earlier today confirmed that Obama had installed his man Paul Tewes to serve as his eyes and ears at the organization, a sign that Obama is moving quickly to re-shape the party in his own image. Obama's party, it turns out, will include Dean at the top of the DNC.

Democratic National Committee spokesperson Stacie Paxton confirms to us that Obama strategist Paul Tewes will be joining the DNC, a sign that Obama is rapidly moving to re-shape the party apparatus in his own image.

Tewes -- who is in the DNC building right now and whose hiring was expected -- is being brought in to help manage the transition as the DNC swings into action on behalf of Obama's general election candidacy, and to help oversee fundraising and other political matters.

Separately, the DNC let it be known this morning that it will no longer be taking donations from federal lobbyists or PACs -- another sign that Obama is rapidly putting his stamp on what will be effectively be his party until November and perhaps beyond.

Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) seemingly gave up a safe House seat to make his failed primary challenge against Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Or did he actually give it up, and do the inner workings of New Jersey machine politics give him a potential way back if he wants it?

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Jim Webb takes a crack at proving that he can be an effective high-profile surrogate for Obama in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The key takeway from the interview is that Webb is clearly trying to showcase two ways he can act as an effective messenger for Obama. First, his military cred enables him to effectively take on McCain with Obama's foreign policy message about negotiating with hostile foreign powers...

"Under the right circumstances, you have to [talk to your enemies]," he said. "My model for Iran is China in 1971. China was a nuclear power, it was a rogue state, it had American war on its border with Vietnam, it was spouting the same kind of hostile rhetoric. We took none of our military options off the table, we abandoned none of our alliances, but we reached out in a aggressive way diplomatically to bring China into the world community."

Second, Webb tries to demonstrate that he would be able to effectively make Obama's case to Appalacia and rural Americans, arguing that affirmative action, rather than entrenched racism, is the problem. "If you can get the rural whites in this country at the same table as African Americans, it would be good for American politics. I think Barack Obama has the potential to do this," Webb concludes.

The rest here.

Yesterday the news broke that Hillary's Congressional supporters, led by Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were planning to write a joint letter asking Obama to make Hillary his Veep, a story first reported by The Politico.

Now, however, the plan's been called off. Schultz's office sends me this statement from her:

"Several Members of Congress considered a letter written to both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, underscoring the need for their partnership and the unity it would bring to the party. It was felt that the letter was being misconstrued as a demand on Senator Obama and we've decided to communicate our views informally."

This underscores, of course, the delicacy of the task at hand: Urging Obama to appoint her as Veep without pressuring him to do so and hence making it impossible for him to actually accept, lest he appear to have caved.

This interesting number buried in a new Rasmussen Reports poll should perhaps make us question whether African American voters are really all that upset with Hillary over the racially-charged tactics she was accused of using during the campaign...

Forty-five percent (45%) of African-Americans support Mrs. Clinton for vice president, with 35% opposed and 19% undecided. Among white voters, 47% oppose her being on the ticket; 32% think it's a good idea, and 21% are unsure.

By a double-digit margin, more African American Dems than white Dems -- nearly half of them -- want her on the ticket. Barely more than a third of African Americans oppose it.

One other interesting number in the poll that reminds us again of the upper-lower income divide among Dems: "Most Democrats (58%) who earn less than $60,000 a year believe Clinton should be Obama's running mate. Just 43% of upper income Democrats agree."

Overall, the poll, which was taken the night after Obama clinched it, finds that a majority of Dems -- 51% -- want her as veep.

So now that the general election's under way (it really is!), how does the electoral map look for Obama and McCain?

Chuck Todd and the rest of the MSNBC political brain trust give us a useful overview of which states are leaning towards whom, and which states are the toss ups:

Base Obama: CA, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, MD, MA, NY, RI, VT (153 electoral votes)

Lean Obama: ME, NJ, MN, OR, WA (47 votes)

Toss-up: CO, FL, IA, MI, NV, NM, NH, OH, PA, VA, WI (138 votes)

Lean McCain: AR, GA, IN, LA, MS, MO, MT, NE, NC, ND (84 votes)

Base McCain: AL, AK, AZ, ID, KS, KY, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WY (116 votes)

My immediate question about this is whether Florida belongs in the toss-up category, rather than the "lean McCain" one. That said, by this reading, the map clearly favors Obama. He starts with a sizable lead in base electoral votes, and he puts Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia in the toss-up category.

MSNBC's conclusion: "His reach right now seems much longer than McCain's."

In yet another sign that the Republicans will almost certainly lose their open Senate seat in Virginia, retiring GOP Sen. John Warner doesn't appear to be willing to endorse former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who only narrowly won the nomination at this past weekend's state party convention.

"I'm not going to keep answering this question about Gilmore," Warner told The Hill. "I'll get my press office to send you a statement."

Gilmore trails his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Mark Warner -- no relation to John -- by a wide margin in all the polls.

With the general election campaign now officially in full swing, Barack Obama is heading today to Virginia, a red state that has been trending Democratic in recent years -- and he's campaigning with two people who might just be on the VP short list.

Obama will be appearing with Congressman Rick Boucher, former Governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner, plus Governor Tim Kaine and Senator Jim Webb. Both Kaine and Webb's names have been mentioned in press coverage as possible running mates.

At around 1:30 A.M. today Hillary sent out an email to her supporters offering her first public comments on her decision to drop out and vowing that she intends "to deliver" on her promise to strongly support Obama's candidacy...

Dear XXXX:

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,
Hillary
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Just before he officially secured the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama had a decent lead over John McCain, according to the new CBS/New York Times poll.

The numbers: Obama 48%, McCain 42%. Margin of error: ±4%.

The data was collected from May 30 to June 3, ending right before Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee. As such, it doesn't take into account whatever effect his clinching the nomination may have. But it does provide a useful benchmark.

One of the more interesting subplots of Campaign 2008 has been the Hillary camp's efforts -- in some ways successful -- to repair relations with the Netroots, who were from the outset highly skeptical of Hillary's candidacy because of her support for the war and other reasons.

That task fell to her internet guru, Peter Daou, and for awhile there, the feeling among some bloggers was that -- counterintuitively -- her campaign was actually savvier at Internet outreach than the Obama team was. But the Obama campaign brought in huge sums of money online, and over time some of the main Netroots figures got behind him.

At any rate, Daou has just emailed out to his blogger list a kind of olive branch to the lib blogosphere, and a recognition that the Obama camp did end up doing yeoman's work on the Internets....

If anything is clear this cycle, it's the immense power of the Internet to mobilize voters and transform elections. I've been privileged to work with an amazingly creative and innovative web team here at the Clinton campaign. And I also believe that tremendous credit should go to the Obama team for their exceptional use of the medium.

One thing that remains to be seen, now that the Dem nominee is chosen, is what sort of impact the Netroots have on the general, and on media coverage of it. The Netroots have made great strides since 2004, and the 2008 election will be a test run to see if the power of the lib blogosphere to influence the mainstream campaign debate in a general election setting has increased since last time around.

A senior Hillaryland source confirms to us that reports Hillary will drop out of the race on Friday and endorse Obama are accurate.

NYT:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to suspend her campaign and endorse Senator Barack Obama on Friday after Democratic members of Congress urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama, according to a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton is likely to make the announcement in New York City, an aide said, though no final venue has been chosen.

Her decision came after a day of telephone conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about what she should do now that Mr. Obama had claimed enough delegates to be able to clinch the nomination. Mrs. Clinton had initially said she wanted to wait before making any decision, but her aides said that in conversations, some of her closest supporters said it was urgent that she step aside.

"We pledged to support her to the end," said Representative Charles W. Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Mrs. Clinton since she first ran for the Senate. "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."

Late Late Update: Here's the statement from the Hillary campaign -- the event is indeed on Saturday:

Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC on [Saturday] to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity.

Which is to say, it's official.

Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, a prominent Hillary supporter, just told me in an interview that he has "no doubt" that Hillary privately assured him that she would definitely take the veep slot if Obama offered it to him.

Johnson has launched a public campaign to push the idea of a joint Obama-Hillary ticket. As I noted below, Johnson had some comments buried in a Washington Post write-up of the story that really jumped out and demanded further attention.

Specifically, Johnson revealed to WaPo that Hillary had privately told him that he'd take the veep slot if asked, and also let it be known that Hillary had authorized him to launch the campaign. Though these comments weren't highlighted in the piece, they seemed like the real news, so I asked Johnson whether he stood by this.

"She said, if she's offered it, she would feel compelled to take it in the best interest of the party to make sure that we have a unified ticket," Johnson told me, further paraphrasing Hillary's remarks to him as follows: "If I'm offered it, I'm compelled to take it, because we need to win."

Asked if he had any doubt whatsoever that Hillary was telling him definitively that she would take the veep slot, Johnson told me: "No doubt." Johnson added that she had made the comments to him in Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Johnson also reiterated that she'd unequivocally authorized him to launch his campaign. "I heard that she had told the New York delegation that she would definitely consider the Vice Presidency," Johnson said. "I said, `You want me to do it today?' She said, `No, do it tomorrow.'"

That stuff, to me, seems like the news here.

There's something about the new front page of the Democratic National Committee's Web site that suggests that maybe, just maybe, the DNC is now fully behind Barack Obama as the party's nominee.

Click to enlarge...

Hard to miss the "thank you, Hillary" -- a declaration from Party Central HQ that this is over.

Democrats got some good news in a major House race last night, with Republican nominating the candidate who is probably their weaker option for this open deep-red district.

In the Fourth District, where scandal-plagued GOP Congressman John Doolittle is retiring, arch-conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock defeated the more moderate former Congressman Doug Ose for the right to go up against Democratic candidate Charlie Brown, who just barely lost to Doolittle back in 2006.

Read more »

Hillary meets with her campaign staff, says it's goodbye:

Sen. Hillary Clinton visited staff at her headquarters in Arlington, Virginia Wednesday just after most of them had been told they would no longer have to report to work after Friday.

A staffer who was in the room said she invited all of her campaign staff to come to her home on Friday.

Before Clinton arrived, the staff was told that they would be paid through June 15th. But the bulk of the staff was told their last day of work would be Friday.

Junior staffers were emotional and some were crying and as Clinton left her headquarters, she waved to cameras outside.

During his press conference today in Baton Rouge, John McCain declared in strong terms that he's voted for every investigation of Hurricane Katrina.

The only problem, as the DNC has been pointing out to reporters, is he voted twice against Democratic proposals to investigate the levee failures.

After a local reporter at his Baton Rouge press conference asked why he voted against forming a commission to investigate the levee failures in New Orleans, McCain insisted that he supported every investigation -- and added that he was "not familiar" with what the reporter was talking about:

McCain voted against establishing a commission to investigate the levee failures, in a September 2005 party-line vote in which all Republicans voted against the Democratic proposal. He then repeated that party-line GOP vote against a similar Dem proposal in February 2006.

Late Update: McCain spokesman Brian Rogers e-mailed us the following comment:

"It doesn't bode well for Senator Obama's pledges to run a campaign of hope and change when on the first day of the general election he's launching the same tired negative attacks that the American people are so sick and tired of. As Sen. McCain said, he wasn't familiar with the specific votes the questioner was asking about. Instead he was speaking to his strong support for the Homeland Security Committee's comprehensive, bipartisan investigation of Hurricane Katrina, which was already fully underway when these other proposals were suggested."

There's so much stuff coming out right now on Hillary-as-Veep that we thought we'd bring you a quick roundup of the latest:

* Top Hillary supporter Ed Rendell had some surprisingly tough words about Hillary-as-veep in an interview with New York 1 News, saying that Hillary sometimes "couldn't help but upstage" Obama were she on the ticket, and even saying that the Obama camp would have to "make strict rules" limiting Bill's campaign trail behavior.

* The Associated Press is reporting that Obama has tapped Caroline Kennedy to head up his Veep search committee, which will also include Jim Johnson and Eric Holder -- choices that could signal that perhaps Hillary won't get the nod, since these figures aren't really close to the Clintons.

* A group of Hillary's Congressional supporters are mulling the idea of sending a joint letter to Obama suggesting the idea of a joint ticket.

* On MSNBC just now, a leading Hillary supporter, Rep. Charles Rangel, offered qualified praise of the Hillary-as-Veep idea, saying:

It should be done in my opinion, because when you find two warriors in a historic campaign, and they've split the vote, the 36 million votes right down the middle, common sense should dictate what she brings to the ticket.

* Jimmy Carter doesn't agree with Rangel, to put it rather mildly:

"I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made," said Carter. "That would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates."

The statements from Dem party leaders declaring the Dem primary over and crowning Obama the nominee are starting to come fast and furious now.

This morning we already got such statements from DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen and Nancy Pelosi. Now a group of Senators who remained neutral in the race -- Tom Harkin, Barbara Boxer, Tom Carper, Ken Salazar, Ron Wyden, Mary Landrieu, Frank Lautenberg, and Ben Cardin -- have just come out with their own...

The democratic nominee for President has now been chosen after a breathtaking and historic race...

Our focus now is on victory in November and on giving Barack Obama every ounce of our support, every bit of our energy, and our total commitment to do everything in our power to win the Presidency...

We want to say, to the Clinton supporters who worked their hearts out and whom we know are very disappointed, that their extraordinary effort on her behalf has strengthened our party and strengthened our nation.

A bunch of these Senators met yesterday and were unable to reach an agreement on how to proceed, but now yesterday's outcome has left them -- and other party leaders -- with only one obvious course.

It's worth noting that no one is yet openly calling on Hillary to concede. The Senators' full statement after the jump.

Read more »

So with every last primary and caucus now over and done with, here are the final stats for the delegates and popular votes:

• Barack Obama has passed the 2,118-vote finish line and now has 2,158 votes, against 1,926 for Clinton. The remaining 144 super-delegates are likely to go almost entirely to Obama.

• Obama leads in the pledged-delegate count by 1,763 to Clinton's 1,640 -- a difference of 52%-48%, showing just how close this race was over the whole cycle.

Read more »

Nancy Pelosi has just said that the Democratic Primary is over, declaring Barack Obama the "nominee."

Pelosi's office just sent me some audio of some remarks she made to reporters from the cable networks that haven't aired yet. "Now we have a nominee," Pelosi said, "and that's pretty exciting."

Here's her full quote:

It's pretty exciting, a great expansion of participation from young people, from women, from minorities, people in minority communities. And now we have a nominee, and that's pretty exciting. The campaign of Sen. Clinton is one that will go down in the history books as a great one for our country, breaking what I call the marble ceiling, what they call the glass ceiling. Glass is easy compared to the ceiling that she broke. And I couldn't be prouder of her eloquence, her knowledge, her judgment, the stamina that it took to have this campaign. And so I salute her and all of her supporters.

As clear as can be -- Pelosi crowned Obama the nominee, and talked about Hillary's candidacy as being "history." More party leaders are likely to follow suit today.

A bunch of people have reported this morning that Robert Johnson, the founder of BET and a key Hillary supporter, has launched a public campaign to get Obama to offer her the Veep slot.

But it's in this interview that Johnson said some truly revealing stuff...

Johnson said he began discussing the vice presidency with Clinton last month and that they talked about it at a dinner in Puerto Rico last Saturday and again by phone and e-mail on Tuesday. "Let me be clear," Johnson said in a telephone interview Wednesday morning. "She said if asked to do this, she must accept because she believes that it is in the best interest of the party that the party come together and win in November."

So according to Johnson, she was discussing the Veepstakes as early as last month, and even said that she would accept the Veep slot if asked. And there's more...

Johnson said he talked specifically with Clinton on Tuesday about his intentions. "She said, 'Go ahead,'" he recalled, although asked that he wait until Wednesday to do so.

In other words, Hillary basically authorized Johnson to launch the campaign. This is all pretty suggestive stuff. We're going to follow up with Johnson and will bring you more if we can get it.

From the be-careful-what-you-wish for department...

John McCain sends a letter -- just released by his campaign -- to Barack Obama proposing that he agree to join him in a series of weekly free-form town-hall meetings...

I suggest we agree to participate in at least ten town halls once a week with the first on June 11 or 12 in New York City at Federal Hall until the week before the Democratic Convention begins at locations to be determined by our campaigns. Federal Hall is particularly fitting as it was the place where George Washington took the oath of office as our first President and the birthplace of American government hosting the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch offices. These town halls should be attended by an audience of between two to four hundred selected by an independent polling agency, could be sixty to ninety minutes in length, have very limited moderation by an independent local moderator, take blind questions from the audience selected by the moderator and allow for equally proportional time for answers by each of us.

People in the McCain camp say they think that despite Obama's obvious rhetorical dexterity, McCain will be able to effectively use Obama's youth as a foil. Of course, McCain's speech last night -- which was about as exciting as watching ice melt on a cold day -- probably shouldn't inspire much confidence in this regard.

We'll bring you Obama's response if and when we get it. McCain's full letter after the jump.

Late Update: The Obama camp's response seems to indicate that they're open to the idea, referencing the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates:

"As Barack Obama has said before, the idea of joint town halls is appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country. We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. But, having just secured our party's nomination, this is one of the many items we will be addressing in the coming days and look forward to discussing it with the McCain campaign," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Read more »

In her speech before AIPAC today, Hillary really does appear to extend Obama an olive branch of sorts and even seems to tacitly acknowledge that the race is over...

I know Senator Obama understands what is at stake here. It has been an honor to contest primaries with him. It is an honor to call him my friend. And let me be very clear: I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.

The key word there is "will." It isn't much, but it's something.

Late Update: Here's the video:

This is worth watching: In a few minutes, Barack Obama will be delivering his first speech to a partisan audience -- SEIU, a major labor ally -- since clinching the nomination.

And you can watch it live online -- right here.

Between now and Hillary's eventual exit from the race (however and whenever it happens), you will read hundreds, if not thousands, of words telling you what anonymous aides and "advisers" (whatever that means) say the Clintons are thinking and plotting and doing.

So, a quick word to the wise: Only the Clintons know what the Clintons are thinking. And folks who tell you otherwise are full of it, even if they work for a reputable news organization.

Just thought you should know.

Chris Van Hollen, the chair of the DCCC, breaks his neutrality and endorses Barack Obama, explicitly naming him as the party's nominee.

From a statement his office sent over...

"Our nominee Barack Obama is inspiring millions of Americans to register to vote and go to the polls. In November, voters will have a clear choice between Barack Obama's real change versus John McCain's status quo as he runs for a third Bush term...

"I congratulate Senator Barack Obama. He is an exceptional leader who continues to inspire the entire nation with his message of change. I look forward to working with him during this campaign and as our next President."

The question now is how long it will take other party leaders (Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi) to use the word "nominee" to describe Obama.

Van Hollen's full statement after the jump.

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So now that Obama has clinched the nomination and Hillary still hasn't conceded, what will party leaders do to end this thing?

From a statement just out from Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, and DGA Chairman Joe Manchin telling uncommitted super-dels to pick sides by the end of this week:

"We have come to the end of an exciting primary and caucus process -- the voters have spoken...

"Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country."

There's nothing in it about the specific fact that Obama clinched and no hint as to what they think Hillary should do. If the party leaders are planning to exert any kind of public pressure on her to exit -- a delicate task, and perhaps something they'd prefer to do privately -- they certainly haven't done so yet.

Full statement after the jump.

Read more »

Senate Democrats won't have to worry about an open seat in a very expensive state this Fall, with Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) turning back a vigorous primary challenge from Congressman Rob Andrews last night, winning by a 59%-35% margin.

For his part, Andrews ruled out any return to the House. His wife had filed for the seat and secured establishment support -- but openly said she could step down and allow party leaders to pick someone else, leading to accusations that he would seek to fall back on the nomination for his old seat should he lose the Senate primary.

In some good news for Senate Democrats, New Mexico Republicans last night nominated the more right-wing of their two candidates for Senate, Rep. Steve Pearce, in a race for an open GOP-held seat that is a top pick-up opportunity for the Democrats.

With 99% of precincts reporting, Pearce defeated his somewhat more moderate opponent, Rep. Heather Wilson, by a 51%-49% margin. Pearce benefitted from ad campaigns by the Club For Growth, which pitched him as the true conservative in the race, while Wilson was not able to sufficiently leverage her last-minute endorsement from retiring Sen. Pete Domenici. Wilson's reputation was also damaged significantly by her involvement in the U.S. Attorney scandal.

Both Pearce and Wilson have trailed Democratic nominee Tom Udall by wide margins in the polls, but many observers thought Wilson might be able to close the gap somewhat, given her history of winning tough races in a Dem-leaning Congressional district.

Here's a bit of irony for Hillary Clinton: On the night when she lost the race for the Democratic nomination, she also won the pledged delegate race for the final two states, according to NBC News.

The current split: Hillary wins South Dakota by nine delegates to Obama's six, and in Montana it's eight for Obama, seven for Hillary and one still up in the air. The total: Hillary 16, Obama 14, one unallocated.

In the popular vote race, for what it's worth, Obama actually got a slight boost tonight. Hillary won South Dakota by a margin of just over 10,000 votes, but Obama currently leads in Montana by over 27,000 votes. This owes mainly to the much higher turnout in Montana -- indeed, Obama's vote total there alone is more than the combined total for both candidates in South Dakota.

With the primaries now all over with, Hillary will only lead in the total popular vote by throwing Michigan into the mix and without allocating most of the "Uncommitted" vote there to Obama, or by disregarding the estimated vote totals from four caucus states (Iowa, Nevada, Washington state and Maine) that did not report the numbers directly.

Here's Barack Obama's speech tonight:

Here's Hillary Clinton's speech from tonight:

Here's McCain's speech from tonight:

Hillary won South Dakota, and Obama won Montana, the networks project.

Hillary won her state by 56%-44% with 61% reporting. Montana's returns are just starting to come in.

Not that it matters; Obama has clinched the delegate count he needs to win the Democratic nomination, in case you missed it.

Hillary's speech tonight certainly wasn't a concession speech at all. Check out this line from it:

"This has been a long campaign. And I will be making no decisions tonight."

She directed supporters to go to HillaryClinton.com and asked folks to share their thoughts about what she should do next.

And if you thought the campaign would end tomorrow, Hillary said this:

"In the coming days, I will be consulting with party leaders to determine how to move forward."

In the coming days?

Hillary basically gave a middle-finger to everyone telling her to get out. I don't know how long this posture will last, but that's what it is right now.

Hillary's speech is underway, and she doesn't appear to be conceding defeat tonight. But here's a hint of a concession:

"While this primary was so long, I am proud we stayed the course together."

Even though the networks have declared Barack Obama the winner of the Democratic nomination, Hillary campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe is whipping up the crowd here at Hillary's victory party.

"Are you ready for her?" McAuliffe shouted. "Are you ready for the next president of the United States of America!"

The crowd roared as if the name Barack Obama was about as significant to them as the name Joe Smith.

As Hillary, Bill and Chelsea come out, the song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is blaring. No matter who you support, no matter how much you like or hate either candidate, it's a poignant scene.

Here's the key line, from the prepared remarks of Barack Obama's planned speech tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the site of the planned 2008 Republican convention:

Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end....

Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

CNN and other networks project that Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination. Full speech after the jump.

Read more »

There's some dispute about what exactly Hillary said on a conference call with New York Congressional supporters today -- over whether she said she's open to being Obama's Veep or not, and over who brought up the idea.

I just interviewed Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Hillary supporter who was on that call, here at the Hillary victory party. She shed some light on what exactly Hillary did say.

Velazquez said that Hillary didn't bring it up, but also said that Hillary clearly signaled her openness to the idea -- suggesting that she did indeed go beyond her previous statements on this. The Hillary camp said today that she'd merely repeated previous boilerplate about being willing to do whatever it takes to beat McCain.

"I brought up the idea" of her being Veep, Velazquez told me, adding that she suggested that Hillary as Veep might offset McCain's appeal among Latinos.

"She said she is open if she is asked," Velazquez continued, adding that Hillary stressed that her openness to serving as Veep was a direct outgrowth of her commitment to doing whatever is necessary to beat McCain.

So, Hillary didn't bring it up. But she did say she was "open" if asked. According to Velazquez, at any rate.

This seems significant: The McCain campaign, as predicted, is already using Hillary's "commander in chief test" line to attack Obama.

With the general election set to begin, the McCain camp emailed out this now-notorous video of Hillary a few weeks ago putting herself and McCain on the same "commander in chief" plane and saying that all Obama has to bring to the table is "a speech that he gave in 2002"...

I got in touch with McCain's internet guru, Patrick Hynes. He made their strategy on this as clear as you could want.

"Senator Clinton articulated the fundamental difference between John McCain and Barack Obama as well as anyone," Hynes told me.

We're here at Baruch College in New York City -- just across town from TPM World Headquarters in the Flower District -- which is the site of tonight's victory party for Hillary.

Here, Hillary either will or won't end her presidential bid tonight. Or perhaps she'll merely concede that Obama has numerically clinched the nomination, without actually conceding defeat.

Here in the traveling press room are Maureen Dowd, Politico's Ben Smith, WaPo's Anne Kornblut, Newsday's Glenn Thrush (who wrote today's story on Mark Penn), and many other reporters.

The scene immediately drives home why it is that the big news orgs are cutting back on sending reporters to travel with the candidates. This isn't news to the traveling reporters, of course, but readers might be surprised to learn that we're all going to watch Hillary's victory (or defeat) speech on two big TVs, in a separate room, meaning that in some ways anyone watching the event on TV in their basement might be able to cover it every bit as effectively.

We'll be blogging tonight's results right here.

In addition to the presidential race, there are two high-profile Senate primaries on the ballot today.

Democrats are favored to win both races this Fall, so there's not too much at stake here for November. On the other hand, both contests have been useful for entertainment value.

Read more »

In a further sign that that party is uniting around Barack Obama in order to prevent Hillary Clinton from taking the fight past tonight, Hillary has just lost a high-profile liberal member of Congress who supported her: Maxine Waters of California, who has just re-endorsed for Barack Obama.

"As an outspoken advocate on issues critical to women and children, I have great admiration for Senator Clinton and know first-hand her commitment to our country," Waters said in a statement released by the Obama campaign.

"However, our nation is at crossroads. Now is the time for us to unite so that real change is possible in November."

According to the Obama camp's math, he is only 12 delegates away from securing the nomination, including Waters and three super-dels from Delaware in their latest e-mail release.

Camp Hillary is pushing back against reports that Hillary told New York legislators on a conference call that she'd be "open" to being Obama's vice president.

Here's the statement from her campaign:

"Today on a conference call with New York legislators, Senator Clinton was asked whether she was open to the idea of running as Vice-President and repeated what has said before: she would do whatever she could to ensure that Democrats take the White House back and defeat John McCain."

The Hillary camp claims that her questioner was the one who asked whether she was open to it. But the AP specifically quoted Hillary as follows...

"I am open to it," Clinton replied, if it would help the party's prospects in November.

Of course, the AP sourced this direct quote from Hillary to an anonymous participant on the call. And it needs to be reiterated that the AP's track record today has been less than sterling.

A broader point here: The pressure on the news orgs is ordinarily intense enough on normal days to be first with literally any shard of info, no matter how trivial or poorly sourced, that purports to shed light on what Hillary is thinking or what she will do. But this has reached absurd and truly grotesque proportions today.

Hence the increased likelihood of journalistic train-wrecks. Not that anyone seems to care about said train-wrecks, of course. Folks are too busy chasing the next story.

Obama's haul of super-delegates is turning out out to be very heavy today -- and that's before any actual votes are counted from tonight's primaries, increasing the likelihood that he will clinch the nomination imminently soon.

• Former President Jimmy Carter, who had dropped hints for quite a while that he was for Obama, and officially confirmed the news with the Associated Press.

• South Carolina Congressman John Spratt.

• DNC member Ralph Dawson, from Hillary Clinton's home state of New York.

• Massachusetts DNC member Deb Kozikowski.

• Massachusetts Congressman John Olver.

• DNC member Joyce Beatty of Ohio.

• DNC member Jennifer Dechant of Maine.

• DNC member Maria Chappelle-Nadal of Missouri.

• State party vice chair Carnelia Fondren of Mississippi.

• DNC member John Perez of California.

• Six Michigan super-dels, who each count as half a vote: Detroit Mayor and DNC member Kwame Kilpatrick, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, and DNC members Debbie Dingell, Rick Wiener and Joyce Lalonde, and state party vice chair Tina Abbott.

• Florida DNC member Diane Glasser, who counts as half a vote.

• DNC member Kamil Hasan of California, who has switched from Clinton.

• DNC member Ben Johnson of the District of Columbia, who has switched from Clinton.

• Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California, who is defecting from Hillary Clinton.

• Delaware DNC members Harriet Windsor and Rhett Ruggerio, and state party chair John Daniello. Ruggerio has switched from Clinton.

• Congressman Dennis Moore of Kansas.

• Maryland DNC member Bel Leong-Hong.

• Oklahoma party chair Ivan Holmes.

• Congressman Bob Brady of Pennsylvania.

Score: Obama +23.5, Clinton -3.5.

The Obama camp also rolled out a list of endorsements by Edwards pledged delegates, totaling ten for the day.

According to the Obama camp's most recent math, he is only eight delegates away from securing the nomination.

(ed. note: This post will be continually updated to reflect new endorsements.)

Are House Democrats on the verge of an unprecedented second "wave election" in a row -- one that could win them up to another 45 House seats?

That's the astonishing finding of a new survey by the Democracy Corps, the Democratic polling firm run by Stan Greenberg and James Carville.

The new survey polled 1,600 people across 45 GOP-held districts, ranging from the competitive Tier 1 to harder-to-reach Tier 2 with the named incumbents and their opponents used instead of generic match-ups. The aggregate results showed the Democratic candidate winning the Tier 1 races 51%-42%, and the edging out the GOP 48%-45% in the Tier 2 match-ups, though they trailed 43%-51% in the "rural/small town" category.

During a conference call with reporters, Greenberg was bullish on the Dems' chances this Fall, predicting a second wave on top of the one from 2006: "It's certainly reasonable to think that of these 45 seats, half these seats could go to the Democrat if the trend holds."

One of Hillary's most prominent supporters, Senator Dianne Feinstein, minces no words in saying that the race is over:

"I think after the campaigns are wrapped up today, it is in fact a moment of truth," Feinstein told CNN. "I think a decision has to be made about whether keeping this nomination wide open is in the best interest of winning in November. I do not believe that it is, and I'm a very strong supporter of Hillary being placed on ticket as a vice presidential candidate."

As noted below, in their private meeting yesterday uncommitted Senators discussed the idea of Hillary as veep. It's one thing for Hillary supporters like Feinstein to call for Obama to offer her a spot on the ticket. The real tell will be if prominent neutral parties call for the same in significant numbers.

The Associated Press weighs in with another big one (and with a bit of luck on the news orgs' part, this one will turn out to be accurate)...

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.

Of course, the AP's track record today leaves something to be desired. But put that aside for a sec.

The key to understanding how the AP reached its conclusion is this from later in the piece...

The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.

The AP is including over a dozen super-dels who privately indicated to the news org that they will ultimately back Obama, should the contest continue, but haven't said so publicly. Not everyone counts private commitments; the Obama campaign, for instance, only includes publicly declared supporters in its super-delegate tally.

So this isn't an official clinching of the nomination, obviously. And indeed, it's really a no-brainer that Obama has reached the magic number when you factor in private commitments. It's highly likely that far more than a dozen have privately signaled support for Obama.

Ben Smith of The Politico has written an astute piece on why Hillary keeps going, and going, and going, against insurmountable odds.

As Smith writes, "winning, for Clinton, has been surviving." Smith continues that Hillary's stalwart refusal to give up has created some confusion among her advisers and has in some ways muddled her message, concluding that the "last believers in the mythology of Clintonian invincibility appear to be the Clintons themselves." You should read the whole thing -- but there are many more levels beneath the surface here that are worth exploring.

Here's my stab at trying to answer the question of why this controversial and in some ways enigmatic figure has refused to quit the race. One key reason she has stayed in, I believe, is that it strengthens the inspirational power of Hillary's political narrative and persona, and, ultimately, strengthens her emotional grip on her supporters.

Read more »

Barack Obama's campaign has been racking up more super-delegate endorsements today, as the campaign counts down to clinching the nomination. The names so far:

• DNC member Joyce Lalonde of Michigan, who counts as half a vote.

• Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan, who counts as half a vote.

• Rep. John Olver of Massachusetts.

• DNC member Maria Chappelle-Nadal of Missouri.

The score so far for today: Obama +3, Clinton +0. Obama now has 2,080.5 delegate votes to Clinton's 1,916.5, and the Obama camp's math says he is 36.5 delegates away from securing the nomination.

Also, the winner of the Montana primary tonight will be able to count on a five-vote bonus -- the governor, both Senators, and the state party chair and vice chair will reportedly pledge their votes to the winner of the state's primary at the moment the media calls the race. Obama is favored to win that one.

The Hillary campaign rushes out this response to the Associated Press story reporting that Hillary will concede tonight:

The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening.

If McAuliffe is to be believed, however, she will concede pretty much right after Obama clinches the magic number.

The Associated Press lands the big one (presuming, of course, that it's accurate)...

Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.

Terry McAuliffe already said as much publicly this morning, asserting that if Obama clinches the magic number, Hillary will concede.

The AP is now reporting that it will happen tonight.

Late Update: Camp Hillary says not so much, she won't concede tonight.

As I noted below, a bunch of uncommitted Senators met yesterday to discuss how or whether to go public with an endorsement, but Obama advisers don't expect a group of them to endorse today.

Now there's more confirmation of this. The Rocky Mountain News talked to Senator Ken Salazar about what went down at the meeting; the Senators reached no endorsement agreement, and furthermore...

"I could make the argument for either one of them," Salazar said about Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Many people can make the argument that maybe the best thing would be for both of them to be on the same ticket."

Salazar said the possibility of a joint ticket was discussed at today's meeting. "There was some of that discussion, but there's no conclusion," he said.

Marc Ambinder says Salazar is trying to broker a joint endorsement for Obama. It seems clear to me that the dynamic just hasn't changed for many prominent super-delegates, even at this late date -- there's no real incentive to endorse either one, given that it risks alienating some of their constituents, and they want to give Hillary a chance to leave the race gracefully.

If Hillary stays in after Obama gets the magic number, of course, that will no longer apply, to put it mildly. The thing to watch for is whether there will be public super-del pressure on Obama to offer Hillary the Veep slot.

Did Hillary campaign chair Terry McAuliffe just reveal that Hillary will concede defeat when Obama clinches the magic number of 2,118 delegates?

He certainly appeared to do just that this morning on The Today Show. Here's the exchange...

QUESTION: If Barack Obama reaches that number today or tomorrow do you believe that Sen. Clinton is prepared to concede?

McAULIFFE: Yeah, I think that if Sen. Obama gets the numbers, I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him, and call him the nominee.

The tell there, I think, is that the questioner asked specifically what she would do if Obama hit the number today or tomorrow. And McAuliffe clearly said, Yes, she'll concede.

We'll see what happens.

Late Update: Here's the video:

Yesterday a bunch of uncommitted Senators met to decide whether -- and how -- to go public with their choice in the Dem primary, stirring a bunch of speculation that a group of them would endorse Barack Obama as a bloc today.

But a senior Obama aide tells me that there's no expectation in the Obama campaign that Senators will endorse him in any kind of group today.

This isn't to say that individual Senators won't announce their support for Obama throughout the day today. They very well may, though it seems more likely that Senators will be loath to do this, preferring instead to give Hillary breathing room to exit the race gracefully.

Either way, Obama advisers aren't expecting any bloc of Senate endorsements today.

A source forwards me the invite for a fundraiser that Barack Obama is hosting tomorrow night for the Democratic National Committee's White House Victory Fund.

It's Obama's first fundraiser for the fund, and the event is being seen as a clear sign that the Democratic donor establishment is coalescing behind Obama as the all-but-certain nominee.

Click on the image to enlarge...

Word of the event -- which is taking place in New York, at the Park Avenue home of top Dem fundraisers Jane Hartley and her husband, Ralph Schlosstein -- stirred some speculation in Democratic circles yesterday that Hillary and Obama would be hosting it together as a kind of unity gesture, an effort to unite the donor establishment behind Obama.

But Hillary doesn't appear to be involved in this event. Some folks still think it's possible that Hillary and Obama will do some kind of joint appearance tomorrow, but this fundraiser isn't it -- for now, anyway.

In a further sign that uncommitted super-delegates are poised to step in and endorse Barack Obama in order to end the Democratic race after tonight, uncommitted Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA) told the New York Times that while many super-dels are sitting still for the moment, there is definitely an urge to get the race over and done with by the end of the week.

"We want to hear from Senator Clinton; she deserves the right to make her statement," said Altmire. "But I'm not fine with it proceeding. I think it's incredibly damaging at the end of the process for it to continue on."

Obama gets the first super-delegate of the day: Political activist Joyce Lalonde of Michigan. The campaign claims they are 41 supers away from the prize.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who's officially been neutral but who certainly has been acting like an Obama supporter in recent weeks, had said he'd endorse someone officially tomorrow.

Clyburn, however, let the news slip a day early: It is indeed Obama.

Hillary spokesperson Mo Elleithee, on the campaign plane today, says she isn't going anywhere, thank you very much:

"I think its pretty clear that she is not conceding." Elleithee said, "I think its pretty clear that she is staying in this race. She is going, in the coming days, to be aggressively courting uncommitted superdelegates aggressively courting unpledged delegates, making the case to them that she is a candidate best ready to take on John McCain."

When asked directly when Clinton will step aside, Elietthee told reporters, "as she has said dozens and dozens of times she is in this race until we have a nominee...Until there is a nominee she is going to try to win support."

If Obama doesn't clinch the nomination Tuesday night, people close to Hillary expect that she will want to make at least one more round of pitches to the super-dels to win as many as she can to her side before Obama officially wins it.

Even if catching Obama in the delegate count is out of reach, there's no reason (from her point of view) for her not to press on and pad out her delegate numbers as best she can, both to make the loss look closer and to increase her own leverage to whatever degree she can.

Hillary's top campaign fundraising chair, Hassan Nemazee, confirms that her top donors and fundraisers have been invited to join Hillary at her Tuesday evening party celebrating the last primary -- but he tells me it doesn't mean she'll drop out that night.

Multiple news organizations are searching for clues that Hillary will drop out of the race within a day or two. One thing people are pointing to as a sign of this is the fact that the donors have been invited to Tuesday night's festivities.

But Nemazee, for one, insists that this isn't necessarily all that significant.

"It would be astonishing to me if I or other donors didn't get an invitation to go to the event," Nemazee tells me.

"Is she going to make a speech that will make the headlines some are expecting? I have absolutely no way of knowing that," Nemazee continued. "But I strongly suspect that you're going to see a wait and see attitude until at least Wednesday."

"The fact that people [top donors] are being invited to participate in an event in New York on the last primary of the year is totally inconsequential," Nemazee concluded.

To be clear, it is perfectly possible that she will drop out Tuesday night. But this invite isn't evidence that it will happen one way or the other. So argues Nemazee, at any rate.

Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton confirms to me that Obama and Hillary spoke privately on Sunday night -- but those looking to read their conversation for clues to how or whether the race will end tomorrow may be disappointed.

"They did speak," Burton tells me via instant message.

Asked if they had discussed anything relating to post-primary activities, Burton said: "He called to congratulate her on her victory in Puerto Rico, that's it."

The Hillary campaign slows to a standstill, perhaps for good:

An email went out to all advance staffers of Sen. Hillary Clinton telling them there are no events on the candidate's schedule beyond Wednesday remarks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.

The email told staffers this was not goodbye but there were no plans beyond Wednesday for now.

Hillary picks up her second super-delegate of the day: Irene Stein, the chair of the Democratic party in Tompkins County, New York.

In a press release sent over by the Tompkins Dems, Stein argues -- as did Hillary's first super today -- that it's her responsibility to pick Hillary because she's the best opponent for John McCain.

"[Superdelegates] are given the solemn role of using their best judgment as to who will be the best candidate for the Party and the Nation," Stein says. "I believe that having Hillary Clinton as our nominee will give us our best shot at winning the election."

The Hillary camp will work hard to focus attention on super-dels justifying their choice of Hillary based on electability, in hopes that it emboldens other super-dels to ignore the pledged del and popular vote count and do the same.

That brings today's super-del total to two apiece.

Late Update: The Obama campaign just announced two more from Michigan: Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence, and Michigan Education Association President Lu Battaglieri.

Hillary drops a positive last-minute mailer in Montana, another indication that she's spending at least a bit of money to compete in the final states until the last.

Click on the below images to enlarge...

As best as I can determine, Hillary has launched no negative ads or mailers mentioning Obama since the North Carolina and Indiana results rendered the race more or less a foregone conclusion, though there have been spots drawing an implicit contrast with her rival.

Obama's missed vote on the Kyl Lieberman Iran amendment -- which declared the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group -- emerged as a major issue in the primary, allowing Obama to contrast himself with Hillary on foreign policy and portray her as being in the Bush corner.

Obama opposed the amendment, and now his opposition to is emerging as a general election issue, with McCain hammering him over in a speech this morning before AIPAC:

I was pleased to join Senators Lieberman and Kyl in backing an amendment calling for the designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing American troops in Iraq. Over three quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama. He opposed this resolution because its support for countering Iranian influence in Iraq was, he said, a "wrong message not only to the world, but also to the region."

But here, too, he is mistaken. Holding Iran's influence in check, and holding a terrorist organization accountable, sends exactly the right message -- to Iran, to the region and to the world.

In the speech, McCain also lobbed familar shots at Obama over his willingness to negotiate with hostile foreign leaders. From Obama spokesperson Hari Sevugan's response:

John McCain promises four more years of the same policies that have strengthened Iran, making the United States and Israel less safe. He promises to continue a war in Iraq that has emboldened Iran and strengthened its hand...He stubbornly refuses to engage in aggressive diplomacy, ruling it out unconditionally as a tool of American power.

Instead of recognizing reality, John McCain continues to run on a platform of doubling down on George Bush's failed policies, while carrying on his divisive brand of politics.

McCain's full speech -- and Camp Obama's full response -- after the jump.

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A new media study sheds some light on one aspect of how Barack Obama was able to win the race, presuming he does: He dramatically outspent Hillary Clinton on TV ads.

The study by the University of Wisconsin shows that Obama was able to outspend Hillary by a 1.6:1 ratio for the whole primary season up through Oregon. A closer look then shows that he was able to truly overwhelm her during some key periods.

Read more »

Hillary rolls out her first super-del of the day, Louisiana Democratic State Party Chair Chris Whittington.

Tellingly, the Clinton camp's release on this took care to highlight a quote in which Wittington explicitly citing a belief in Hillary's superior elecability to explain the endorsement -- and stressed that other super-dels have a responsibility to follow suit.

"There is no question that she is the strongest Democrat to go toe-to-toe with John McCain in a general election," Wittington said. "It is our responsibility as automatic delegates to choose the candidate we believe best fit to beat Senator McCain."

Still, the math appears inexorable: The Obama camp's numbers put him 44 delegates away from the magic number of 2,118.

Here's Terry McAuliffe on MSNBC this morning, making the Clinton camp's latest case -- that she's winning the popular vote even if you take Michigan out of the equation...

Here's what McAuliffe said:

Today, Mike, we are ahead by 257,000 votes. The difference in Michigan, as you know, was 238,000. So today you can even take Michigan out of it and Hillary's ahead in the votes.

This is actually not true. McAuliffe's latest estimate doesn't include the estimated vote counts in the caucus states of Iowa, Nevada, Maine, and Washington State. If you look at Real Clear Politics' popular vote count, not including Michigan, but including Florida and the aforementioned caucus states, you get:

Obama: 17,723,200

Clinton: 17,588,454

That puts Obama up 134,746 -- without Michigan, but including the aforementioned caucus states. And the results in South Dakota and Montana tomorrow could further shift these numbers.

In a blow to any hopes Hillary Clinton might have of continuing the fight for super-delegates after Tuesday, a top supporter is now saying she should admit defeat after the voting is all over.

"It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee," said former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. "After Tuesday's contests, she needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him."

If Hillary tries to keep the contest going after the primaries, it seems likely that some of her backers could withdraw their support.

It's not even 9 A.M. in the morning after Hillary's big Puerto Rico win, and the Obama campaign has just rolled out its second super-del of the day: Democratic State Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo.

The key, again, is whether Obama will rack up enough super-dels in the next two days to be able to reach the magic number of 2,118 by Tuesday night. He's now 44 away.