by John M. Broder,
Denver – Senator Barack Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, officially became
the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party on Wednesday, capping a meteoric rise from a little-known first-term
senator to the first African-American to win a major-party nomination.
Mr. Obama's formal nomination was secured at 6:48p.m. local time on the third day of the Democratic National Convention
here, as his primary season rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, moved that Mr. Obama be nominated by acclamation.
Mrs. Clinton had earlier told her delegates they were free to vote for Mr. Obama during the afternoon nominating roll
call, but she did not direct them to do so.
"I am here to release you as my delegates," she told her supporters during an emotional session at the downtown
Sheraton, according to The Associated Press. Many responded with shouts of "No, no." She added, to cheers, "I am not
telling you what to do."
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