The battle to determine the Democratic presidential nominee ended Tuesday, June 3, as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama became the nation's first black presidential nominee.
Obtaining scores of superdelegates, including former President Carter and Rep. James Clybum, Obama has broken the threshold of 2,118 delegates needed for the party's nomination, according to CNN, The Associated Press and ABC News projections.
"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," Obama said at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Clybum expressed why Obama was the best candidate to CNN Tuesday afternoon.
"I came to that decision because I do believe that he has elevated this campaign," Clyburn said. "He has energized our constituents. He is redrawing an electoral map for democrats."
Some superdelegates are beginning to switch sides from New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to Obama including California Rep. Maxine Waters, according to her office and CNN.
Congratulating Obama for his campaign, Clinton did not concede, nor did she discuss the likelihood of running on the same ticket with Obama in November.
"This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," Clinton said to her supporters in New York.
Clinton is set to meet with supporters and party leadership during the next few days to determine her next moves, according to CNN.
Clinton won by a 12 percent margin in South Dakota, and as of press time, Obama led voting in Montana.
"We think it's a really high turnout," said Kevin O'Brien, spokesperson for the Montana Democratic Committee. "Over 77,000 people voted absentee."
Prior to the polls opening, Obama led with 2,106 delegates to Clinton's 1,913.
The total of 31 delegates tied to Tuesday's contests wraps up the five-month Democratic primary season.
With the disputed Michigan and Florida delegates in play, party leadership decided to give the states half of the number of delegate votes they would otherwise have.
As of late, Obama has focused his attention on the general election and on verbally sparring with the presumptive Republican nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain on issues ranging from the economy to the Iraq War.
Speaking at a Cuban Independence Day celebration in Miami late last month, Obama suggested McCain's Cuban policy analogous with President Bush.
"Instead of offering a strategy, a strategy for change, [McCain] chose to distort my position, embrace George Bush's, and continue a policy that's done nothing to advance freedom for the Cuban people," Obama said.
Meanwhile, McCain is gearing up for the general election battle against Obama.
"No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically," McCain said to supporters in New Orleans Tuesday evening. "But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward," McCain said.
In a speech to the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, McCain portrayed Obama as a rookie leader who is soft on potential terrorists threats.
"It's worth recalling that America's progress in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed," McCain said. "It was the strategy he predicted would fail, when he voted cut off funds for our forces in Iraq."
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