Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination

With Senator Barack Obama crossing the threshold of delegates he needed to claim the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday evening, party leaders began to move on Wednesday to bring their lengthy primary battle to a close and unite the party, even as questions swirled about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s next move.

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Four top Democratic leaders on Wednesday morning asked all uncommitted superdelegates to make their preferences known by Friday. While they did not formally endorse Mr. Obama or urge Mrs. Clinton to exit the race, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said in a joint statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election.” They added that the party needed to “stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”

But Mrs. Clinton’s top aides on Wednesday morning continued to sidestep questions about when she would suspend her campaign, even as some of her supporters began ratcheting up pressure on Mr. Obama to take her on as his running mate.

Robert L. Johnson, a prominent Clinton-backer and the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said Wednesday on CNN’s “American Morning” that he planned to enlist members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push Mr. Obama to accept Mrs. Clinton as his vice presidential nominee, adding that Mrs. Clinton had not directed his efforts but was aware of them.

Mr. Johnson argued that an Obama-Clinton ticket would have the best chance of winning in the general election and would help unify the Democratic Party.

Lanny Davis, an aide in the Clinton White House, said he was circulating a petition asking Mr. Obama to pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate. Mr. Davis said he was acting on his own.

Later, however, Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, insisted on CNN that there had been “absolutely zero discussions” about whether she would accept a vice presidential nod. Mr. McAuliffe said Mrs. Clinton wanted to talk things over with her supporters on Wednesday.

“There is plenty of time,” Mr. McAuliffe said, continuing to argue that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton talked early Wednesday morning by telephone. He congratulated her and renewed his offer to “sit down when it makes sense for you,” according to a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Robert Gibbs. Mrs. Clinton responded positively, Mr. Gibbs said, but added there were no immediate plans to meet on Wednesday.

Attention is focused at this point on the delicate dance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a relationship that has been rife throughout this primary battle with complicated tensions.

On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket with Mr. Obama. She replied that she would do whatever she could — including a vice-presidential bid — to help Democrats win the White House.

Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York, asked Mrs. Clinton whether she would consider teaming up with Mr. Obama. “She said that if it’s offered, she would take it,” Ms. Velázquez said later in an interview. A last-minute rush of Democratic superdelegates, as well as the results from the final primaries, in Montana and South Dakota, pushed Mr. Obama over the threshold of winning the 2,118 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s convention in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago served in the Illinois Senate.

“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,” Mr. Obama told supporters at a rally in St. Paul. “Because of you, tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.”

Mrs. Clinton’s speech to supporters in New York City that was more defiant than conciliatory. She paid tribute to Mr. Obama, but she did not leave the race. She again presented her case that she was the stronger candidate and argued that she had garnered the most votes, a debatable contention that is disputed by the Obama campaign.

“I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected,” Mrs. Clinton told supporters. But she paid homage to Mr. Obama’s accomplishments, saying, “It has been an honor to contest the primaries with him, just as it is an honor to call him my friend.”

Mr. Obama’s victory moved the presidential campaign to a new phase as he tangled with Senator John McCain of Arizona in televised addresses Tuesday night over Mr. Obama’s assertion that Mr. McCain would carry on President Bush’s policies. Mr. McCain vigorously rebuffed that criticism in a speech in Kenner, La., in which he distanced himself from the departing president while contrasting his own breadth of experience with Mr. Obama’s record.

“The American people didn’t get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama,” Mr. McCain told supporters.