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In Historic Vote, Obama Officially Claims Democratic Nomination 

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer 

DENVER -- Sen. Barack Obama ( Ill. ) was formally nominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate today, making him the first African American to be placed one step from the White House. 

And in an extraordinary piece of theater, Obama made a surprise appearance before the convention tonight immediately following vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden's acceptance speech. An energized Obama bounded onto the stage, kissed Biden's wife, Jill, on the lips and then hugged Biden. 

"I want everybody to understand why I'm so proud to have Joe Biden" on his ticket "to take America back," Obama said to thunderous applause.

The historic moment came after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who narrowly lost to the Illinois senator, asked the cheering delegates to unanimously throw their support to Obama.

Several hours later, former President Bill Clinton vigorously embraced Obama's candidacy, making the case that the party's nominee is ready to be commander-in-chief and ratifying his choice of Biden as his running mate, even if it was not Clinton 's wife.

"Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world," the former two-term president said. "Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States ."

With a theatrical flourish, the roll call vote was rushed to allow Hillary Clinton suspend the vote and "in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory," declare Obama the nominee by aclaimation.

"With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory," Hillary Clinton said, "with faith in our party and our country, let's declare together with one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president."

The move seemed to melt away the tension and divisions of the past two days and prepare the way for Obama to take firm control of his own convention.

Biden accepted his nomination tonight with a broadside speech linking Republican John McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, to the deeply unpopular foreign policies of President Bush.

"John McCain is my friend," Biden said. "But I profoundly disagree with the direction that John wants to take the country. For example, John thinks that during the Bush years 'we've made great progress economically.' I think it's been abysmal."

"And in the Senate, John sided with President Bush 95 percent of the time," he added. "Give me a break."

Biden also sought to put the convention firmly into the control of the Obama-Biden campaign, after two days of sharing the limelight with Hillary and Bill Clinton.

"The choice in this election is clear," the Delaware senator said. "These times require more than a good solider; they require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change -- the change everybody knows we need."

Bill Clinton followed the lead of his wife in backing Obama, and took her criticism of McCain still further. 

Obama campaign officials were pleased with Hillary Clinton's performance. Obama called both Clintons to congratulate them.

But Republicans continued to foment division this morning, saying Hillary Clinton did not rebut the central attack she lodged against Obama in the primary fight, that he is not ready for the White House. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took up the cudgel today, declaring Obama "dangerously" inexperienced for a job that involves life-and-death decisions on the international stage.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) replied that those were the kinds of unfair attacks that would turn voters off in a climate in which fears of external threats are taking a back seat to anxieties over the economy. With his background, growing up the son of a struggling single mother, Obama "can relate to the kind of struggles that people in America and in Colorado are feeling right now," said Salazar, who will formally nominate Obama for the presidency tonight.

Ritter said those struggles must be the focus of both Biden's speech tonight and Obama's tomorrow at Invesco Field.

"Hillary Clinton could not have delivered a more genuine and impassioned message as to why this country needs Barack Obama as president of the United States ," he said.But Obama's plans for middle-class tax cuts, the development of a clean-energy economy and universal health care has been lost in the media's fascination with Obama's rhetoric and image, the governor said.

"He's a brilliant speaker. His rhetoric is fabulous. He really is inspirational," Ritter said, but that is not enough. "He has to convince people he has a plan for the economy. He has to get in the weeds."

And with early voting starting in Colorado Oct. 5, Obama does not have much time, he added.

Biden, tapped as a running mate in part because of his experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will cap a night dedicated to national and homeland security.

But he was also tapped because of his ability to hit back at McCain, who he counts as a friend, colleague and sometime rival from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Susan Rice, a senior Obama adviser on foreign policy, would not comment on Biden's speech, but she did lash out at McCain's newest attack ad, which accuses Obama of dimissing Iran as a "tiny" threat to the United States .

The quote cited by the ad came from a speech in which Obama said nations like Iran , Cuba and Venezuela do not pose the same kind of threat as Russia , which could have annihilated the country.

Obama said that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries," on May 18 in Oregon . "That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean think about it.

Iran , Cuba , Venezuela -- these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union . They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.'" 

"John McCain's ad is another dishonest and desperate attack that bears zero relationship to reality," Rice said, adding that Iran poses more of a threat now than eight years ago because the "failed Bush-McCain policies have let that threat grow." 

The real drama is building for tomorrow night, when Obama accepts the nomination before 80,000 supporters at Invesco Field. Campaign spokesman Bill Burton confirmed he will be flanked by a row of Roman-looking columns, a design he called "simple and sober" -- and similar to the platform George W. Bush stood on at his 2004 convention. Republicans mocked the design as a Greek temple, suitable for the "celebrity" they portray Obama as.

Before the speech, Rep. John Lewis, the last survivor of the 10 people who spoke 45 years ago tomorrow alongside Martin Luther King at the civil rights march on Washington , will introduce a film on King's "I Have A Dream" speech, and put Obama into the pantheon of civil rights leaders.

"Fate, history and everything else will be on the line," an emotional Lewis said today, indicating just how much pressure Obama will be under. "It's on his shoulders. It's important for Barack Obama to take it to John McCain."

A convention program that this far has shied away from too much red meat tonight targeted McCain's biggest strength with the electorate, his foreign policy experience. Democrats will try to turn that experience against him, painting him as a bellicose, trigger-happy heir to the Bush White House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today said McCain "doesn't have the temperament to be president."

"Together, Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John McCain brought more than a century of experience to our foreign policy challenges. And what did that get us? One international debacle after another," former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said.

"We deserve better than John McCain's jokes about bombing Iran or his denials that Iraq has distracted us from Afghanistan ," Daschle said.

"We deserve better than a foreign policy that's more confrontational than George W. Bush, and fails to address the complex challenges of a changing world. We need leaders who recognize both our national interest and our shared challenges, who will pay attention to both allies and enemies, and who will truly make America safer and stronger. I can think of none better than Barack Obama and Joe Biden."

After the convention closes, Obama, Biden and their wives Michelle and Jill will embark on a joint bus tour through the Midwestern battleground, with stops in Pennsylvania , Ohio and Michigan . The team hopes to hammer home their economic message on the eve of the GOP convention, which begins in St. Paul , Minn. , on Monday.