From CNN -- Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, according to CNN estimates, making him the first African-American in U.S. history to lead a major-party ticket.
Obama picked up a slew of superdelegate endorsements on Tuesday. Those endorsements, combined with the delegates he's projected to receive from South Dakota's primary, will put him past the 2,118 threshold, according to CNN estimates.
This morning I cast my ballot for Barack Obama in Vermillion, South Dakota after sending a round of text messages to my friends reminding them to do the same, and after 2 hours of GOTV canvassing. I can say with pride that my vote pushed him over the threshold tonight. Such a poetic moment...
The fact that pledged delegates put him over the threshold demonstrates that Barack Obama is the choice of the people. Without support of the people, the super delegates and party machine would have never fallen in line with him. Without the compelling support of the people, Obama would never have overcome Clinton's institutional advantages.
The fact that pledged delegates from the last primary night in the country put him over the top demonstrates just how close this fight was. Most of us on dailykos were cold to the idea of a Clinton nomination, but we should respect her tenacity. We must consider and respect the other (near) half of the party, our brothers and sisters, who were passionate about Clinton's candidacy and must be mourning her loss.
And the fact that the Obama campaign made sure that it was pledged delegates, not super delegates, that gave him the nomination demonstrates the awesome political skill of our party's nominee this time around. It is not a coincidence that the voters of South Dakota, not its super delegates, put Obama past the threshold tonight. Clinton was supposed to be the politically skillful candidate, but Obama has proved time and time again what a grasp he has of the modern political campaign. From his focus on caucus states, his planning of a post-Super Tuesday race, his Richardson endorsement in the wake of the Rev. Wright controversy, and his pledged delegate "win" tonight, Obama has shown us that he has the right stuff to win in November.
Yes. We. Can.