Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1-1

Chicagoland FinalBreaking news and more at chicagotribune.com 161ST TRIBUNE ELSEWHERE Rain, much cooler near the lake; high 76, low 68. METRO, BACK PAGE TOM WEATHER FORECAST Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak The Democratic new presumptive nominee for president, Sen. Barack Obama, is joined by his wife, Michelle, on Tuesday after his speech in St. Paul. Obama makes history After an electrifying campaign, two groundbreaking candidates have come to the end of their fight.

A black man claimed the Democratic nomination for president. A woman finished second. Both have broken barriers. Both have rewritten the American story. By Mike Dorning WASHINGTON BUREAU the living memory of many in this country, the simple act of encouraging black Americans to reach for the mind an actual political enough to risk a brutal death and a shallow grave.

In some of the arenas Barack Obama has filled by the tens of thousands in his historic campaign for the presidency, he once would not have been able to take so much as a sip from the water fountain. Yet in a country with a tortured racial slavery, a bloody civil war, wrenching Supreme Court rulings, riots in the streets and the modern realignment of its political victory by the 46- year-old senator from Illinois writes a new chapter in the American story. really is an extraordinary said Aldon of of the Civil Rights a sociology professor at Northwestern University. wonder about the folks who risked their lives in Selma and Birmingham for the franchise, if they ever envisioned that this would happen in some of their Obama is an unlikely heir to that struggle. He wasneither a participant in the civil rights movement nor a legacy of its leadership, andhis politics are deliberately post-racial.

He is the son of a mixed marriage who presents himself as the product of Kansas and Kenya. RACE IN AMERICA PLEASESEE RACE PAGE11 would not have been possible 40 years By Michael Tackett WASHINGTON BUREAU is difficult to envision a more stark contrast. Young versus old. Liberal versus conservative. And perhaps most important, black versus white.

With Sen. Barack Obama crawling to the finish line after a marathon string of primaries, caucuses, speeches and debates to become the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, one fundamental question about race in America was a major political party nominate a minority march took him a few more steps than he might have liked, but he made it. Yet another question, likely to be far more NEWS ANALYSIS Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak Race was never far from the surface in the Democratic primary season. It looms as a bigger issue in the broader campaign ahead. War.

Economy. Health care. And through it all: Race. PLEASESEE ANALYSIS PAGE7 By Christi Parsons and John McCormick TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENTS ST. a moment bearing weight and the promise, Sen.

Barack Obama of Illinois claimed the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday night to cap a grueling but ultimately successful quest to be the first African-American candidate to lead a major bid for the White House. The career trajectory of the man who only four years ago was serving in the state legislature in Springfield has been as rapid as any in American politics, featuring a blend of celebrity, youthful appeal and gift for rhetoric that could attract crowds by the tens of thousands across the nation. His rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, kept her campaign alive, telling supporters in New York that she would making no on Tuesday and pledging to meet with allies and party leaders to figure out what to do next. She hinted at accommodation but sounded notes of defiance, and her supporters sent signals that she would like to run for vice president with Obama.

But in the massive arena where his pre- sumedRepublican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, plans toclaim his nomination in September, Obama proclaimed victory and said his win represented the hopes and highest of Democratic voters across the country. After the final votes were cast in the final party Obama winning Montana and Clinton winning South a flood of superdelegates flocked to his camp, Obama secured the number needed to lock up the nomination and de- Illinois senator clinches party bid for president PLEASESEE DEMOCRATS PAGE6 Hillary Clinton quite concede. PAGE 3 McCain: the agent for change. PAGE 4 Civil rights leaders reflect.

PAGE 11 South Side beams with pride for Obama. PAGE 8 CAMPAIGN 2008 PAGES 3-11 By Jim Mateja and Rick Popely CHICAGO TRIBUNE On a day of reckoning for the American way of building and driving cars and trucks, General Motors announced a bold attempt Tuesday to wean itself from a dependency on large SUVs and pickups, declaring that gasoline prices retreat and the company must sell more small cars, some battery powered. The dramatic announcement amounts to a rejection of longtime Detroit economics, which dictates that bigger is better because larger vehicles are more profitable. GM abandon pickup trucks or SUVs, but needs to make far fewer, so it will close four plants, including the factory in Janesville, Wis. That assembly line, built in 1919, makes the massive Chevrolet Suburban, a status symbol less than a decade ago now languishing on sales lots because it gets just 15 GM parks the SUVs, squeezes into compacts Giant automaker to shut 4 plants as gas costs soar PLEASESEE GM PAGE21 The second-largest airline is expected to announce as early as Wednesday that it will ground dozens of its least-fuel- efficient planes in a bid to reduce costs and capacity.

Job cuts are called likely. BUSINESS With fuel prices soaring, United to cut of fleet Product: CTMAIN PubDate: 06-04-2008 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: CMAIN1-1 User: nunger Time: Color:.