History made | Black American becomes first to become presidential nominee

A7

By DAVID ESPO
The Canadian Press

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

DENVER - Barack Obama, claiming a prize never held by a black American, swept to the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday as thousands of national convention delegates stood and cheered his improbable triumph.

Enlarge Photo

AP

NEXT STOP, WHITE HOUSE?: Delegate-at-large Samuel Lathem of Bear, Del., celebrates after Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was officially nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate during the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday. Obama will speak tonight to a crowd of about 75,000.

Former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton asked the convention delegates to make it unanimous "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory."

And they did, with a roar.

Competing chants of "Obama" and "Yes we can" floated up from the convention floor as Obama's victory was sealed.

Obama was across town as the delegates he won in the primaries of winter and spring cast their votes. Aides left open the possibility that he would briefly visit the Pepsi Center to thank his supporters, a routine event at recent national conventions.

His formal acceptance speech tonight was expected to draw a crowd of 75,000 at a nearby football stadium where an elaborate backdrop was under construction.

Clinton's call for Obama to be approved by acclamation - midway through the traditional roll call of the states - was the culmination of a painstaking agreement worked out between the two camps to present a unified front.

Obama, 47, and in his first Senate term, carries the Democrats' hopes of recapturing the White House into the fall campaign against Senator John McCain and the Republicans.

Inside the convention hall, the outcome of the traditional roll call of the states was never in doubt, only its mechanics.

"No matter where we stood at the beginning of this campaign, Democrats stand together today," declared Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a former Clinton supporter who delivered a nominating speech for Obama.

"We believe passionately in Barack Obama's message of changing the direction of our country," she said.

Earlier in the day, Clinton formally released her delegates amid shouts of "no!" by disappointed supporters.

"She doesn't have the right to release us," said Massachusetts delegate Nancy Saboori. "We're not little kids to be told what to do in a half-hour."

Polls showed the campaign was a close one between Obama and McCain.

The same surveys showed a strong desire for change after eight years of President George W. Bush's administration, and Obama pledged an end to the war in Iraq and a fresh economic policy.

But even as he awaited his nomination, there was open talk in the convention city that his race remained a stumbling block to winning the White House.

The convention program also included the delegates' acceptance of Obama's choice of Delaware Senator Joseph Biden as vice-presidential running mate. Biden had the marquee time spot for his acceptance speech late Wednesday.

Former President Bill Clinton also had a turn at the podium, this time in a supporting role for the man who defeated his wife in a bruising battle for the nomination.