Campaign: Obama’s VP choice to be announced Saturday - CNN.com

(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama’s choice for running mate will be announced to supporters in a text message Saturday morning, senior Obama campaign officials told CNN on Friday night, and a senior party official said it won’t be Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Obama called some people on his short list for the vice presidential slot Thursday night to tell them he had not selected them as a running mate, a highly placed Democratic Party source said.

A senior Democratic official who had spoken with Clinton told CNN late Friday that the Obama campaign has communicated to her through private channels that she will not be Obama’s vice presidential pick.

Also, sources close to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said he has been informed he was not selected. One source told CNN that Obama personally made the call to Kaine. Another source said Kaine has flown to Denver, Colorado, for the Democratic National Convention. See who’s in the running

It is not known who else may have gotten calls.

However, late Friday two Democratic sources confirmed that Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh is also out of the running.

Most of this week’s buzz had been around Bayh of Indiana, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Kaine. The contenders kept a low profile and Biden has avoided any lengthy interviews.

So with Bayh and Kaine both out of the running, and we all knew that Hillary would never be offered the slot, it’s looking mighty likely that Joe Biden will get the VP nod. Biden has good strong foreign policy credentials on the one hand, but some of the worst hair plugs known to mankind.

I think Bayh may be a better choice, but Biden is certainly up to the task.

Obama: I will be the Democratic nominee

WASHINGTON (CNN) — In what he called a “defining moment for our nation,” Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party.

Obama’s steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, combined with the delegates he received from Tuesday’s primaries, put him past the 2,118 threshold, CNN projects.

“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,” he said.

“Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”

Obama’s rally was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota — the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September.

Speaking in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, congratulated Obama for his campaign, but she did not concede the race nor discuss the possibility of running as vice president.

There were reports earlier in the day that she would concede, but her campaign said she was “absolutely not” prepared to do so.

“This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight,” she said.

Congratulations, Senator Obama!

Senator Clinton, I do not see a VP slot in the near future for you, and I obviously do not think that you should continue to fight.

In the interest of Party unity, I am going to try to stop bashing you … but you’re not making it easy.

Senator Clinton, I think you made a serious mistake tonight. On the night that your opponent clinches the nomination, you only offered a cursory congratulations, and kept the focus of your speech on yourself, not on the issues, and not on the Party, and not how we defeat McCain in November … it smacked of sour grapes.

You came across as a poor loser, and this is not going to sit well with many Democrats, and especially not Senator Obama. As such, I would be stunned if you were offered the VP slot.

One of your supporters, like Evan Bayh or Ed Rendell, yes. But you, Senator Clinton? No.

I think that you will be of much better value to the Party and to the nation as a major power-broker in the Senate. I think that you still have an extremely important role to play in the political scene, and I, for one, will never consider this year to be your “political obituary”. Keep your focus on universal healthcare and getting it passed through the Congress; and if/when a Supreme Court seat opens up … the do everything you can to ensure that we get another progressive justice, rather than another conservative justice who will continue to erode our rights.

You’re not through … you’re just not Presidential material.

Now let’s bring the Party back together, solidly behind Senator Obama. Let’s march forward, and donkey-kick some Republican elephant butt!