Our newest contributor at TPMCafe, Bernard Avishai, shares his thoughts on the state of the campaign.
6:50 P.M.: Hillary puts Obama over the top.
Moments ago, she moved for a two-thirds majority vote to suspend the rules and end the roll call vote, in order to nominate Obama by acclamation.
“With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory,” Hillary 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.”
Barack Obama has become the first African American in American history to be chosen as the nominee of a major party.
6:51 P.M.: Nancy Pelosi announces that Obama accepts the nomination and will deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow night.
Video: Hillary puts Obama over the top…
Bill to offer full-throated endorsement of Obama’s commander-in-chief readiness in speech tonight.
Our David Kurtz on the convention floor as Hillary calls to make Obama nominee by acclamation …
More here.
Waiting for Bill to start …
“I love this and I thank you …”
9:07 PM … Something about that crowd brings him back to life.
9:12 PM … Yep, that’s Bill.
9:15 PM … Hillary’s speech takes on a different look when you see it as a complement to Bill’s.
9:25 PM … Well, good speech. Very solid speech. Classic Bill. Sort of reminds me of the weird anguish of last spring, thinking we’d never see this guy again. He did what he needed to do. And he got things moving in a direction the convention needs to go.
9:28 PM … Also good that he said one thing — John McCain’s an “extremist.” We need to hear that again and again, because it has the virtue of being true.
Tom Brokaw agrees: You can’t criticize John McCain because he was a POW. The word has come down from on high.
Most of the nets aren’t showing it. But John Kerry’s giving a really good speech on the foreign policy front. Knocking McCain for standing on an aircraft three months after 9/11 and calling out ‘next stop Baghdad.’ He’s going through the list of McCain’s foreign policy goofs, how even Bush’s Iraq policy is now embracing Obama’s policy prescription. He’s really got fire in him on this. If you get a chance, watch this.
I thought Hillary’s speech was great; Bill’s too. But in its own way I think the speech I just saw John Kerry give is the best one I’ve heard at this convention. And I do not have any doubt that it’s the best I’ve ever heard from him.
(ed.note: I don’t think a lot of people saw it, so we’re going to bring you video of Kerry shortly.)
Late Update: Here’s the text. We’ll have the video shortly.
Not exactly the topic of the evening. But David Kurtz just caught up with Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) on the convention floor and asked him about the latest developments in the subpoenas of Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten.
One mention: He made clear. He went be done with them even after they leave the White House. “I remind them. I’ll still be chairman next year.”
10:39 … That may be the most on-message flub in convention history.
10:53 PM … I didn’t really have a lot of real-time comments. But that was a great speech. Nicely delivered. And went to the key points — pumped up Obama and made the case against John McCain. Exactly what was needed.