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Obama wins after Clinton moves for unity |
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Written by Sam Youngman and Kevin Bogardus
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DENVER -- Sen. Barack Obama was officially nominated as the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate and the first black presidential nominee Wednesday afternoon.
Obama won the nomination after vanquished rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton walked onto the convention floor and moved that voting be stopped and Obama be nominated by acclamation.
Clinton (D-N.Y.), who spoke passionately Tuesday night from the podium about the need for party unity, joined the New York delegation and proclaimed that "with eyes firmly focused on the future, in the name of unity, with the goal of victory" the party should stop the state by state roll call and Obama should be nominated.
"Let's declare in one voice right here right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and our next president," Clinton said to thunderous applause.
The motion was seconded by seemingly everyone in the hall, leaving House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to take the podium and proclaim Obama the party's nominee.
The voting, which began with Alabama, made it through the roll until New Mexico which yielded the floor to Obama's home state of Illinois. Illinois then yielded to New York, and Clinton entered the hall to huge applause.
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Click Here for The Hill's Twin Cities `08 Convention Website