After capturing his party’s nomination Tuesday, Barack Obama told reporters that his historic win had not yet sunk in and that he planned on reflecting on his win over the weekend at home with his family.

So what did he discover?

“Ya know, in between the sleepover with seven seven-year-olds and a bike ride, I did reflect on it. And I am extraordinarily proud of what my team did and I think am most of all humbled and grateful to the American people for giving me this opportunity. Humbled because we’ve got a big job ahead of us and it makes me want to redouble my efforts in delivering on the promises that have been made so far in the campaign,” Obama told reporters.

Mr. Obama also shared little on his secret meeting with Senator Clinton last week, describing it as “constructive,” and noting the two did not have “detailed discussions” about her +$20 million debt.

“Our teams are now working together to figure out how we move forward on a whole variety of fronts…I think that what she’s really interested in, as she said on Saturday, is figuring out how are we going to move forward to make sure we win the White House.”

So what’s different since Tuesday on the Obama campaign?

“Not much, here I am with you guys,” Barack Obama said with a laugh to reporters on board his campaign plane.

Just two days after securing the Democratic nomination, Obama was in the semi-regular position of taking questions from his traveling press corps on a flight following a fairly standard town hall in southwest Virginia, and heading to a fairly standard rally in Northern Virginia.

But this election is far from standard as Obama is the nation’s first African American to sit atop of a major party’s ticket for president. According to the history-making man, he’s been too busy to fully appreciate the win. “It hasn’t sunk in - we’ve been going at a pretty fast clip,” he shared.

Following his rally tonight, he’ll try to take it in this weekend at home with his family — no public events, according to his schedule.

“I intend to take the weekend off and I am going to take my wife out on a date. I hope to go on a bike ride with my kids and my sense is at some point this weekend I will have the opportunity to reflect on the journey we’ve traveled - and that will I think help me chart a course for where we are going to go…over the next five months,” he told reporters, many of whom also eager to have some down time as well.

A reporter wondered if Obama would savor his victory this weekend. The candidate who often says this election isn’t about him, but the people replied, “I think this weekend is to just savor my family, think back to the hard work we’ve put in and to think that now find ourselves in a position to really change the county and I promised. The one thing I can tell you that I feel an enormous obligation to the people who I’ve met during the course of this year, year and a half. The single mom without health insurance, the guy who lost his job and lost his health care and pension. They tell you during the course of the campaign, they are counting on you, they believe in you and I take that very seriously so we’ve got a lot of work to do, and that’s why there’s not a bunch of lot of self congratulatory moments right now, we’ve got work to do.”

He may have a little help on the campaign trail this fall. When asked if Obama would utilize former President Bill Clinton on the campaign trail - despite several stumbles during the primary, despite serveral contentious moments between the two - Obama simply replied, “Yes. I think Bill Clinton is an enormous talent, and I would welcome him campaigning for me.”

At a town hall meeting in Southwest Virginia this morning, Barack Obama described the 16 month long, 54 contest race for the Democratic nomination “historic” while praising Hillary Clinton as a worthy opponent.

The nation’s first African American candidate for president also shared his thoughts on his monumental feat. “I stand before you as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America. I’m very proud of that. I’m very proud of that, and I’m proud of America for giving me this opportunity because obviously we all know that it’s a sign of enormous growth in this country. But we’ve still got work to do. Just winning the nomination is not the endpoint. The end point isn’t even winning the general election. The endpoint is making your lives better. That’s the reason that we are in this, that’s why we’re in this auditorium here today,” he said.

The candidate also announced today that the DNC will adopt the Obama campaign’s policy on refusing contributions from federal registered lobbyists and PACs. Said Obama, “Going forward the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard, we will not take a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACS – we’re going to change how Washington works. They will not fund my party, they will not run our White House, and they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I am president of the United States of America.”

In the arena that will be filled with GOP faithful in just a few months at the Republican Convention, Barack Obama will tell several thousand on hand an significantly more watching on television that after 54 contests, the primary season has come to an end. “Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” he is expected to say according to prepared remarks sent out to reporters.

On the hour-long flight from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota, Senior Advisor David Axelrod told the press that while the historic nomination has yet to sink in for him, Barack Obama is already thinking about what’s next. “He’s already thinking about where we go from here. But he’s obviously very happy.” Axelrod noted that while tonight’s a time to celebrate their hard-fought win, “We’re gonna wake up tomorrow and we’re gonna start all over again because we’re not in this you know simply to break a barrier, we’re in this to try and change a country.”

Staffers refused to talk about Hillary Clinton as a potential running mate - the line repeated to reporters on the campaign plane: “We don’t have a short list or a long list. We’re coming here tonight to finish the process of winning this nomination, then we’ll turn our attention to the notion of who the running mate will be,” Axelrod explained.

But Barack Obama will heap praise on his soon to be former rival at his victory rally. “Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she’s a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight….You can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton,” he will say according to prepared remarks.

Party unity, after all, will be needed to beat John McCain this fall. “At the end of the day, we aren’t the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard.  You didn’t do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else.  You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – we cannot afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing.  We owe our children a better future.  We owe our country a better future.  And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say – let us begin the work together.  Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.”

Check out Obama talking with friends and advisors on his flight to Minnesota here:

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Read Obama’s prepared remarks below the jump

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A campaign spokesperson denied a report on Huffington Post today that claimed Senators Obama and Clinton  spoke Sunday night and agreed that their staffs should begin talking about the next phase of the election.

“Senator Obama called Senator Clinton yesterday afternoon to congratulate her on her win in Puerto Rico. End of story,” an Obama spokesperson said of the candidate’s afternoon phone call to his Democratic rival.

After greeting workers at a Waterford, Michigan, Rite Aid Distribution plant today, Obama was asked by reporters traveling with him about his conversation.

“The only conversation I’ve had with Senator Clinton was yesterday to congratulate her on her victory in Puerto Rico. I apologized once again for the offensive remarks that were made by Father Pfleger back in Chicago. I emphasized to her what an extraordinary race that she’s run and said that there aren’t too many people who understand exactly how hard she’s been working, I’m one of them, because you know she and I have been on this same journey together and told her that once the dust settled, I was looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing and so we’ve still got two more contests to go and I’m sure there will be further conversations after Tuesday,” he answered.

On the brink of winning his Party’s nomination, is the history-making candidate emotional?

“Not yet, but talk to me tomorrow night.”

After more than a year of campaigning and five months of contests, as it stands now, the Obama camp is finally ready to declare victory after the nation’s final contests June 3rd.

According to the campaign’s count, they are just 44 delegates away from the “magic number” - 2026, the amount of delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination. Of course the DNC rules and bylaws committee is meeting Saturday to determine how to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations, which the Obama camp says will benefit team Clinton and likely increase the number of delegates needed for victory.

On a conference call yesterday, campaign manager David Plouffe admitted that would mean Obama will have to win more superdelegates, but later in the day, Obama had the following exchange with reporters on his campaign plane.

Reporter: Does the general election begin then after Tuesday?

Barack Obama: Yes.

Reporter: And you will be the winner at that point?

Obama: I believe so.

Reporter: We’ll have a nominee?

Obama: I hope so.

Obama hedged later in the conversation when he was asked about his endgame strategy. “I am sure we will have discussions with Senator Clinton and her team. Unless we have, you know it’s technically not over until we have the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination. Once we have that number, we will focus on the general election,” he said.

55 pledged delegates are up for grabs in Puerto Rico this Sunday, while Montana and South Dakota have a combined 31.

During his opening remarks at a Kissimmee, Florida, town hall meeting, Barack Obama noted his pledged delegate majority, but admitted the campaign was not quite over. There are, after all, three more contests in Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico, and neither Democrat has secured the 2026 delegates to secure the nomination.

Obama announced he would be campaigning Saturday in Puerto Rico, and will continue to hold events in the western states yet to vote. And, in his second Florida event of the day - his first swing through the state since September of last year - Obama said he hoped the Florida delegation would be seated.

Of course Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates when the state moved their primary contests before the DNC’s rules permitted. While Clinton contends the validated results could propel her closer to victory, the Obama campaign has stated they were just playing by the rules and so did not campaign in the two states.

“My hope is in a couple weeks time, that we’ve won some more elections, we’ve won some more delegates, we’ve gotten the Florida delegation seated so that they’re gonna be at the convention. And then we’re gonna have a convention in August and I’m gonna accept that nomination and then you and I together  - we’re gonna have to work hard to make sure that we win Florida, we win this general election, and then you and I together we’re gonna change the country and change the world,” he said confidently to applause.

On a warm spring evening in Des Moines, Barack Obama took the stage to announce he’d achieved a milestone in the protracted race for the Democratic nomination – a journey that became viable in Iowa thanks to an upset victory in the state on January 3rd. “The skeptics predicted we wouldn’t get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out. But the people of Iowa had a different idea,” Obama said to about 7,000 in an outdoor rally.

While Hillary Clinton is far from publicly admitting her possible defeat, Obama declared, “Tonight in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
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“This is a big deal,” senior advisor David Axelrod told reporters en route to the rally. “I don’t think anybody has ever won the majority of pledged delegates and have not been the nominee of the party, so it’s obviously very important, but we are going to fight for every delegate and finish out the process,” he continued.

But sounding like the presumptive nominee, Obama has shifted from taking on Hillary Clinton to praising her. Last night Obama called her a formidable candidate and noted her 35 years of pulbic service. “We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age,” he said as the polite crowd applaued.

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Rather, Obama is ready to move to the next phase of the campaign in taking on John McCain. “While our primary has been long and hard-fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead,” he said. “This year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that is the contest John McCain won.”

The candidate will be campaigning in the two states and one territory with remaining contests, but will be making more stops in general election battleground states. “We’re gonna keep working both at closing out this process officially and all the work that lies ahead in terms of the general election,” Axelrod said.

Today Obama is campaigning in Florida.

At a fundraiser last night in Portland that raked in an estimated $350,000 to his campaign coffers, Barack Obama predicted a victory in Oregon, and said he believed the resulting delegate haul would “put us over the top.”

“We will be able to say we have won a majority,” he said. “But we have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”

For Dems to win in November, he said, it will require a unified Party, adding: “That means all of you have to be nice to Clinton supporters.”

After Tuesday there are three more contests.

On Tuesday Kentucky and Oregon will weigh into the prolonged fight for the Democratic nomination, and while it’s typical that candidates hold their “victory” rallies in one of the states where voters have made their pick, the Obama campaign announced today their candidate will speak at an outdoor rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Of course Iowa is the state that first made an Obama nomination possible when a majority of Iowans caucused for him on January 3rd.

Tuesday is also the day when Barack Obama is expected to have a majority of the pledged delegates up for grabs, and while some have speculated this is tantamount to an Obama victory, the Democratic frontrunner has said he would not declare the race over. When asked about it just a few days ago, Obama would only say, “We will declare that we have the majority of pledged delegates.”

But actions speak louder than words - looking more and more like the presumptive nominee, the candidate will return to the state the campaign described as “a critical general election state that Democrats must win in November.”