Ignoring Hillary Clinton, 20 minutes ago the Associated Press Writers have the tally:

Obama effectively clinches nomination

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday after a grueling marathon, 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.[.]

The tally was based on public declarations from delegates as well as from another 15 who have confirmed their intentions to the AP. It also included 11 delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 30 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination.

Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign. They stressed that the New York senator did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to divulge her plans.

[.]Obama’s triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy — all harnessed to his own innate gifts as a campaigner.[.]

Let’s ignore the Clintons. Whether or not Hillary concedes, suspends her campaign, goes on to wishing and hoping, is now totally irrelevant. Her CDS supporters can whine, whine, whine. They can declare Puerto Rico a state…all to no avail.

Let’s pop the cork.  Or if you prefer, raise a glass of  orange juice.

Here’s to November 4th.

Yes. We. Can.