memeorandum: AP tally: Obama effectively clinches nomination (Associated Press)

2:30 PM ET, June 3, 2008

Top Items:

Superdelegates surge to Obama — A tsunami of superdelegates is poised to rush to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) over the next 12 hours, giving him a mathematical lock on his party's presidential nomination. — The superdelegate surge is likely to swamp a few holdouts within the camp …

Discussion: Rocky Mountain News, The Daily Dish, The Raw Story, Minnesota Monitor, Pajamas Media and Real Clear Politics

Associated Press:

AP tally: Obama effectively clinches nomination … 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.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, New York Magazine, Political Machine, Macsmind and Slog

CNN:

Clinton not ready to concede, her chairman says — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's is “absolutely not” prepared to concede the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Sen. Barack Obama, her campaign chairman said. — Terry McAuliffe rejected as “100 percent” …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Pam's House Blend, Balloon Juice, New York Magazine and The Washington Independent

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Obama Pushes Effort to Claim Victory Tonight — Senator Barack Obama's campaign began a concerted effort on Monday to rally undecided superdelegates around him so he can claim the Democratic presidential nomination after the primaries end on Tuesday night. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: The Politico, Big Brass Blog, The Caucus, THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™, MSNBC, American Street, The Plank, Boston Globe, Real Clear Politics, The Carpetbagger Report, marbury, Politicker, PoliBlog (TM), TPM Election Central and Spin Cycle

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Montana Governor, Senators Set To Jump Off Fence — The three highest ranking Democrats in Montana plan to wade into the Democratic presidential race as soon as the state's primary is decided tonight, according to a source familiar with the decision. — Gov. Brian Schweitzer …

Discussion: The Trail, Associated Press, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Field, TPM Election Central and Taegan Goddard's …

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:

Clinton to concede delegate race when Obama clinches — WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Washington Wire, AMERICAblog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Corrente, Wake up America, Daily Kos, Donklephant, the albany project and The Democratic Daily

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

McAuliffe: If Obama Gets Magic Number, Hillary Will Concede — Did Hillary campaign chair Terry McAuliffe just reveal that Hillary will concede defeat when Obama clinches the magic number of 2,118 delegates? — He certainly appeared to do just that this morning on The Today Show. Here's the exchange...

Discussion: Open Left, The RBC, The Carpetbagger Report and The Mahablog

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Clinton Campaign Denies AP Report That She Will Concede Obama Has Won

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Hot Air

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Wolfson denies AP report

Discussion: The Reaction

Scott Helman / Boston Globe:
Trouble signs as Obama closes in

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Macsmind and JammieWearingFool

Marc Ambinder: RNC Memo: Dems In Chaos

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
South Dakota, Montana Primary Predictions

Discussion: American Research Group, Taegan Goddard's …, The Democratic Daily and Donklephant

Randyj / TIME.com:
“SENATOR CLINTON WILL NOT CONCEDE THE NOMINATION THIS EVENING”

Discussion: The Fix, The Moderate Voice, No More Mister Nice Blog, FishBowlDC, The Democratic Daily and Slog

Chicago Tribune:
Barack Obama appears headed for Democratic finish line

Discussion: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Swamp, Real Clear Politics and TIME.com

The Republican Newsroom / Union-News:
Congressman Olver endorses Obama for president

Discussion: TIME.com and 2008 Democratic …

Washington Post:
Obama On Brink Of Historic Victory

Discussion: The Reaction

The Hill:
Holdouts ready to choose

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and AMERICAblog

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Obama Pushes to Claim Victory After Final Votes

Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

A Campaign to Hate — Wherever I go — from glittering dinner party to glittering dinner party — the famous and powerful people I meet (for such is my life) tell me how lucky I am to be a journalist in this the greatest of all presidential contests. I tell them, for I am wont to please …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Redstate, Outside The Beltway, marbury, Hot Air, Real Clear Politics, Shakesville and Raising Kaine

Bob Herbert / New York Times:

A Gift to the G.O.P. — Talk about self-inflicted wounds. — The Democrats may finally be stepping away from their circular firing squad. It took them long enough. — There are so many things that the Democrats need to do to have any chance of winning the White House in November …

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Taylor Marsh, Real Clear Politics and Commentary

Cathleen Falsani / Chicago Sun Times:
‘This is a dangerous time in America . . . you have to whisper your thoughts’

Discussion: michellemalkin.com and Betsy's Page

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

New Questions about Vice President Cheney's Role in CIA Leak — Chairman Waxman urges Attorney General Mukasey to turn over the FBI interviews of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, citing new information from the FBI interview of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and the recent disclosures by Scott McClellan.

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Nukes & Spooks and The Washington Independent

Faiz / Think Progress:
Waxman calls for release of FBI interviews with Bush and Cheney.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Emptywheel and Needlenose

Alisyn Camerota / Alisyn in the Greenroom:

Beckel's Obama Bombshell — Were you watching at 6:25 when Democratic strategist Bob Beckel dropped a bomb on us? He said he'd heard through his political pipeline that a big shoe was about to drop on the Obama campaign. It has something to do with Michelle Obama.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Hot Air, Rising Hegemon, The Strata-Sphere, Balloon Juice and JammieWearingFool

Associated Press:

Former screen siren Bardot convicted in race case — PARIS - Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. — A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner.

Discussion: Law Blog, Reason Magazine, Don Surber and The Volokh Conspiracy

The Corner:

My Old Party — This is an astounding moment in American politics. You cannot credibly say the Clintons are a political dynasty the way, say, the Kennedys or Bushs are. But I think one has to say the Clinton rule of the Democratic party has been dynastic.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, PrestoPundit, Power Line and Sister Toldjah

David Brooks / New York Times:

Calling Dr. Doom — It took Christopher Columbus about 70 days to get to the New World — a bit less than half as long as it took us to get through the 2008 primary calendar. But by Tuesday night, we'll have reached our destination, and people in the Obama and McCain camps are feeling good about themselves.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Next Right, Connecting.the.Dots, TownHall Blog and Soccer Dad

Matthew Yglesias:

Can't Be Bothered With Accuracy — Good piece from Jonathan Landay: … Indeed. The IAEA has various complaints about Iranian nuclear activities, and it makes sense for the United States to vigorously pursue those complaints. It's also true that given Iranian history on this issue …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, democracyarsenal.org and Eschaton