Obama seals nomination; McCain eager for battle

June 3rd, 2008 | EthioPolitics.com |

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois sealed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation’s first black president. A defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket.

Obama’s victory set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a 46-year-old opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.

McCain was plainly eager for the race to begin, and accused his younger rival of voting “to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job” in Iraq.

In remarks prepared for delivery in New Orleans, McCain agreed with Obama that the presidential race would focus on change. “But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward,” he added.

The newly minted Democratic nominee-in-waiting arranged an evening appearance in St. Paul, Minn., sending McCain an unmistakable message by claiming his victory in the very hall where the Arizonan will accept his party’s nomination in early September.

Obama, a first-term senator who was virtually unknown on the national stage four years ago, defeated Clinton, the former first lady and one-time campaign front-runner, in a 17-month marathon for the Democratic nomination.