http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4705151&page=1

Sen. Hillary Clinton will hold an event with supporters by Friday, likely ending her historic bid for the White House and ceding the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, ABC News has learned.

Just in from the Chicago Tribune:

Antoin "Tony" Rezko has been found guilty on at least one count in his federal corruption trial.

Rezko was charged with mail and wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery, attempted extortion and money laundering in connection with an alleged scheme to corrupt a pair of state boards.

Will this be the last we hear of Obama's one-time associate?

Former President Jimmy Carter weighs in on the VP debate:

 

Barack Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential nominee, former president Jimmy Carter has told the Guardian.

"I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made," said Carter. "That would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates."

Carter, who formally endorsed the Illinois senator last night, cited opinion polls showing 50% of US voters with a negative view of Clinton.

In terms that might discomfort the Obama camp, he said: "If you take that 50% who just don't want to vote for Clinton and add it to whatever element there might be who don't think Obama is white enough or old enough or experienced enough or because he's got a middle name that sounds Arab, you could have the worst of both worlds."

I hope we see some coverage of it here. Obama addressed a whole host of issues, but began his speech with another big thank you and acknowledgement of Hillary's efforts in the primary. Obama also described his great-uncle's experiences in WWII and the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, as well as Eisenhower's efforts to make sure that images of those atrocities be recorded, so that it would never be forgotten. Obama talked tough on Israel and it's right to exist, as well as the need for constant vigilence for Israel's security. He also discussed the need to provide the Palestinians with their own secure state. Throughout, Obama's words were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations, particularly when near the end of his speech, he mentioned the Jewish Americans who stood up for African Americans in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, and lost their lives because of it. Obama pointed out that if not for those Jewish Americans and their ultimate sacrifice, that he would not be where he is today, and called for unity between the Jewish and Black communities. My synopsis is much to brief and general to capture the nuance and specifics of Obama's speech, and I hope that TPM provides a much more detailed analysis and video of the entire speech. Obama sure can deliver a moving speech!

Just up from the AP:

WASHINGTON (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.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D912O0DG0&show_article=1

Ethics? Morals? Of course not. Hillary in negotiations to leave race if Obama will pay her to go. From the Telegraph:

Negotiations are understood to be taking place between the Obama and Clinton campaigns about the Illinois senator helping to repay some of the massive debt incurred by his rival. One of Hillary Clinton’s donors said that the former First Lady’s campaign was as much as $40 million in the red.

In a conference call with major donors this afternoon, contributors were told by Harold Ickes, a senior Clinton adviser, that she was unlikely to pull out of the race until the issue of her massive debts was resolved. The New York senator has lent her own campaign at least $11.5 million.

One source close to a major donor said: “It’s not about the vice-presidency or any other position she might get. It’s about the money – in particular the Clinton family money.” The Obama campaign might have to reach deeply into its well-stocked coffers in order to secure the full support of Mrs Clinton and her husband Bill in the November general election.

The Boston Globe is reporting that Obama has made good on his pledge to give an interview to Peggy Agar, the reporter he called "sweetie" on the campaign trail a couple of weeks ago in Detroit:

"Well, what do you make of the whole 'sweetie' thing that happened between us the last time?" Agar asked next.

"Well, you know, as I said, I called to apologize," Obama replied. "If it had been a guy, I would have called him 'buddy.' I didn't mean it in an offensive way, but I always want to make sure if anybody takes offense that I follow up as quickly as possible. So I think you got a call about a half hour later.

"The main thing I felt guilty about was not having answered your question," he added. "I'd assumed that we were going to give you an interview. So I didn't want you to think I was putting you off. I wasn't."

Afterward, Agar said she was mostly relieved.

"I'm glad it's all over," she told The Associated Press.

Had she minded being called "sweetie?"

"To me, it was not that big of a deal," Agar said.

There were actual issues covered in the interview, too, but who cares about that? If you do, you can read the whole thing here.

Third super of the day for Obama. Southfield, MI, Mayor and Superdelegate Brenda Lawrence puts Obama .5 closer:

 

Sen. Barack Obama picked up another superdelegate during his visit today to Troy High School.

Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence, who is a superdelegate because of her role with the National Conference of Mayors, said it's time for the Democratic Party to unite behind Obama.

"I was undecided, but he's worked hard to show that he's the best candidate," Lawrence said before Obama arrived at the high school, where 2,000 supporters waited in excited anticipation for the probable Democratic presidential nominee.

 

Regardless of all of the other indications that Hillary is closing up shop this week, when I hear that she has abandoned her practice of pointing at faces in the crowd that she pretends to recognize, I know that the end is really near.

There's a great on-the-ground report up at the Guardian today:

 

It was a raw, windswept afternoon when Hillary Clinton appeared on what would have to pass for a stage. There were no warm-up chants, no triumphalist campaign songs, no celebrity supporters, just five local women awkwardly flapping blue Hillary signs.

The audience at this Indian reservation - about 200 counting 14 students on a class trip from Massachusetts and their teacher, who said they were all Barack Obama supporters - was so small Clinton did not even attempt the politician's hoax of pointing to faces in fake delight.

This is what it looks like for Clinton at the end, the last gasps of a dying presidential campaign. When she launched her campaign in January last year, she cast herself as the inevitable Democratic nominee. "I'm in it to win it," she said.

-snip-

A lifetime's worth of ambitions, 16 years of acquaintances in the Democratic party establishment, 16 grinding months of rallies and debates, and $215m (£108m) in campaign funds, all now are exhausted.

So too was Clinton. Her face as she took the stage at the Pine Ridge reservation was drained of colour. People took pictures anyway. Those old enough to remember are still talking about the late Robert F Kennedy's visit to this remote outpost during the 1968 campaign.

They were already talking about Clinton's campaign in the same way: history. "I'm just curious to see her in person," said Beverly Tuttle, a grandmother from nearby Porcupine. That was as far as it went. Tuttle was voting for Obama. "I'm looking at her more like a celebrity than candidate," she said.

read the entire article here

Ben Smith at Politico.com is reporting:

 

Members of Hillary Clinton's advance staff received calls and emails this evening from headquarters summoning them to New York City Tuesday night, and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending, two Clinton staffers tell my colleague Amie Parnes.

The advance staffers -- most of them now in Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Montana -- are being given the options of going to New York for a final day Tuesday, or going home, the aides said. The move is a sign that the campaign is beginning to shed -- at least -- some of its staff. The advance staff is responsible for arranging the candidate's events around the country.

Following this morning's report in the UK's Telegraph citing Clinton senior advisors preparations to concede, it sounds like things are about to wrap up by Tuesday evening.

After his pick-up in Puerto Rico today, only 46 more delegates to go for Obama. Meanwhile, according to The Telegraph:

Senior advisers to Senator Hillary Clinton have prepared the ground for her to abandon her 2008 presidential ambitions within days and not dispute the Democratic nomination all the way to the party convention in August.

Although she won by a wide margin over Barack Obama in yesterday’s Puerto Rico primary - with 85 per cent of the vote in, she was leading by 36 percentage points - the former First Lady made no mention in her victory speech of taking her fight beyond this week.

Instead, she made a final appeal to some 178 uncommitted "super-delegates" - party officials whose convention votes are not tied to the primaries - that she would be the stronger general election candidate against John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

"The decision will fall on those leaders in our party empowered by the rules to vote in the Democratic convention," she said in San Juan. “I do not envy you the decision you must make." She needs some 90 per cent of the 178 to back her, which is almost certainly a vain hope.