Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a winner in the South Dakota primary but defeated in the battle for the nomination, sounded a farewell note to the campaign trail Tuesday night, but she stopped short of conceding defeat to presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

Hillary Clinton welcomes supporters to her rally Tuesday night, as her rival, Barack Obama, clinched the Democratic nomination.

(Photo: Chris McGrath / Getty Images)

    In her remarks to supporters in New York, Clinton said she would take a few days to talk with party leaders and supporters before making a decision "with the best interest of our party and our country guiding my way."

    "This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," Clinton said to thunderous applause.

    Meantime, Obama made a clear turn toward the general election Tuesday night after he passed the magic number of delegates needed to secure the nomination.

    Clinton's remarks were not leaked or distributed ahead of her election night event, and while she spoke highly of Obama and his supporters early in the speech, at other times she decidedly did not sound conciliatory.

    Clinton noted that with 53 contests finished - she spoke before the polls had closed in Montana - she was "carrying the popular vote with more votes than any primary candidate in history."

    The Obama campaign has disputed that calculation because there were no vote totals taken in caucuses, contests where he had a decided if not overwhelming advantage.

    That said, Clinton also noted that she "won the swing states necessary to get to 270 electoral votes," pointing to states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.

    Clinton made references to some of the same contrasts she tried to make with Obama throughout the nomination battle about who would be the best commander-in-chief and who was ready to serve on day one. And with television cameras at times going to supporters in the crowd wearing t-shirts with the now familiar refrain "Count Every Vote," Clinton seemed to be making reference to this past weekend's Democratic National Committee (DNC) meeting where Florida and Michigan's delegates were cut in half.

    "I want the almost 18 million Americans that voted for me to be respected, to be heard and to no longer be invisible," she said.

    With Obama's clinching of the nomination taking on a sense of inevitability that only grew throughout the day, the bigger story was that Clinton is "open" to joining Obama on the Democratic ticket as his running mate.

    Her speech could either serve to remind Obama and his supporters where he fell short and she could help in the general election, or it could be viewed as one last attempt at an impossible comeback.

    Both candidates are scheduled to appear in Washington Wednesday morning to speak before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

www.truthout.org/article/clinton-no-decisions-tonight