Obama clinches Democratic nomination over Clinton (2nd Lead)

Jun 4, 2008, 1:41 GMT

Washington - Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night after a five-month battle with Hillary Clinton, becoming the first African American to lead a major political party into a general election in the United States.

Obama captured the majority of delegates needed to win the party's nod on the final day of primaries in the five-month-old battle with Hillary Clinton.

His victory was projected by US broadcast networks immediately after polls closed in South Dakota Tuesday night, which along with Montana held the last in the series of state-by-state contests that began with Iowa on January 3.

Clinton did appear to have one last victory to her name, as US broadcasters projected her the winner of South Dakota's primary. She was leading the state 56 per cent to 44 per cent with 20 per cent of precincts reporting.

But the victory would not be enough to stop Obama from passing the mark of 2,118 delegates required to win the nomination outright.

'This is a hugely gratifying evening for us,' Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod told CNN.

Axelrod said he expected Obama to declare victory in the long and gruelling nomination fight at his rally in St Paul, Minnesota.

'We believe that when he gets on that stage ... he'll have the delegates he needs to claim victory,' Axelrod said.

Clinton has yet to officially concede defeat, though her campaign suggested earlier Tuesday that the former first lady would bow out if Obama reached the required number of delegates.

Clinton was set to speak before supporters in New York. Her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, had said if Obama does secure the required number of delegates, Clinton would likely acknowledge his win.

Throughout the day a handful of super delegates - party leaders and activists that cast their votes independently of the state primaries - switched their allegiance to Obama, bringing him within 10 delegates of the clinching number before polls had even closed in South Dakota and Montana.