Congrats Senator Obama

by Steve Soto

AP photo

Senator Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president tonight, and praised Senator Hillary Clinton before a large and noisy crowd in St. Paul, Minnesota. Clinton for her part said she would not make any campaign-ending decisions tonight, perhaps until she and Obama can meet face-to-face tomorrow. Clinton congratulated Obama for the race he ran. Obama reached out to Clinton supporters, and plans to make a campaign swing later this week through Appalachia.

However, he was not the only candidate praising Clinton today, and overtly making a play for her supporters: John McCain did also. In a speech tonight from Louisiana, McCain rolled out the fall message on Obama: he is a great talker with a thin resume. McCain also said that Clinton deserved better treatment than she received, and he was proud to call her his friend.

Very clever.

Hillary opened the door to being Obama’s running mate, but his campaign insiders are against it, and some think that any association with a Clinton is “backward looking.”

Obama, in the words of the Post’s Dana Milbank limped across the finish line having won just six of the final 14 contests, and only secured the nomination with super delegates. Nonetheless, he ran a solid campaign and is now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party in 2008.