AP: "Obama Effectively Clinches Nomination"

From the AP:

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.

Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted
former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that
sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed
deep racial divisions within the party.

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 46-year-old first-term senator will face Sen. John McCain
of Arizona in the fall campaign to become the 44th president.

Clinton was ready to concede that her rival had amassed the
delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign.
These officials said the New York senator did not intend to suspend
or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been
authorized to divulge her plans.