Barack Obama nominated, makes history
DENVER -- It's official. At 4:48 p.m. local time (6:48 EDT and 3:48 PDT), Barack Obama became the first biracial American nominated for president of the United States by one of the nation's major parties.
After a roll call that proceeded through the states until New York was reached, Hillary Clinton -- Obama's rival in the party's prolonged, combative primary season -- moved for his nomination by acclamation. She did so, she said, "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory" in November.
In terms of precedent, Obama joins:
* Al Smith, who became the first Catholic on a national ticket when the Democrats nominated him for president in 1928.
* Geraldine Ferraro, who became the first woman on a national ticket when nominated for vice president by the Democrats in 1984.
* Joe Lieberman, who became the first Jew on a national ticket when nominated for vice president by the Democrats in 2000.
-- Don Frederick
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Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Don't you get a lump in your throat, observing the crocodile tears shed by the GOP at Hillary's "dissing" in the Veep selection ? Methinks the tears are actually real....mourning the loss of the opportunity to run against HER, rather than Obama. The wedge they tried to drive into the Dems' campaign turns out, instead, to be the paddle used on them in the political woodshed. What's next for the Repugnicans...stinkbombs at the convention ?
Posted by: thorninurside | August 27, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Senator Obama has never represented himself as biracial. He has always been an African American candidate. I think your description takes away from the history made today. He is the first African American nominated by a major party. Thanks
Posted by: jewel | August 27, 2008 at 05:35 PM
Hillary Clinton may have NOW redeemed herself with her CLASS act of moving for nomination of Barack Obama by acclamation! OsiSpeaks.com
Posted by: KYJurisDoctor | August 27, 2008 at 06:15 PM