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(AP Photo)
A candidate who campaigned on change is now his party's nominee. Barack Obama said, "And then you and I together, we'll change the country and change the world!"
The momentum for Barack Obama's White House bid has picked up steam with the help of some political powerhouses. Sen. Hillary Clinton said, "The time is now to unite us a single party with a single purpose!
"In the spirit of unity, with a goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, let's declare together, in one voice, right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president!"
It's now official, Sen. Barack Obama is the Democrats' choice to become the 44th president of the United States. Orchestrating today's nomination took intense private negotiations between the Obama and Clinton camps.
As a sign of respect to Clinton and her many supporters, she was nominated first, and many of her supporters voted for her in the state-by-state roll call. But in the end, as expected, Barack Obama won the day.
The official nomination process follows what political observers call one of the finest moments in politics: Sen. Clinton's speech before the convention Tuesday night.
Political strategist James Carville said, "This is what a major league fastball looks like, now you've seen one."
Tonight, the other Clinton gets his turn. Former President Bill Clinton will take the stage. His aides say he intends to give an impassioned plea for unity while pointing out what he perceives as fiscal and foreign policy blunders by the Bush administration.
But will the one-two punch from the Clintons be enough to end the rift within the Democratic family and sell the American public on a need for change?
House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn said, "She drew contrast between issues, the issues, and I think that was as she should have done. Now, Barack Obama on Thursday night will have to close this deal. I don't think she can do it for him. I don't think Bill Clinton can do it for him. He has to do it for himself."
Directly following former President Clinton's speech will be the nomination of Sen. Joe Biden as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.
Biden walked around the convention stage late last night in preparation for his acceptance speech this evening.
If everything goes as the Obamas hope, tonight, the focus will turn from inter-party strife to a plan for the future and the man they hope will lead it.
Obama's historic time in Denver continues tomorrow with what is expected to be a rousing speech. His campaign has tried to harness the power of the Internet to draw in young voters. The Web site MyBarackObama.com has more than one million members.
The Obama campaign hired one of the developers of social networking site Facebook to help the Democratic candidate's web page. Developer Chris Huges said, "People can come online, they can search for an event that's happening near them. Just put in your zip code, you find events with a couple clicks, and then you go out and show up on Saturday morning to a real life event."
The online effort could be working. A recent NBC News poll found Obama holds a nearly 20 point lead over McCain with voters 18 to 34 years old.
E-mail: nwimmer@ksl.com
