Clinton to release delegates

DENVER — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will “release her full delegation on Wednesday afternoon” to vote for Barack Obama, according to a statement from the convention committee.

The former first lady will also cast her vote for Sen. Obama (Ill.) and his running mate Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.).

{mosads}Clinton met with her supporters on Wednesday afternoon in Denver to discuss what will happen at the formal vote where the party’s candidate becomes the party’s nominee.

There has been speculation that her supporters would make a push for her nomination, and the first two days of the convention have been filled with reports of disharmony between the Obama and Clinton camps. The New York senator has made a concentrated effort to downplay such talk and said in her Tuesday night address to delegates: “Obama is my candidate.”

The announcement also comes on the day former President Clinton is scheduled to address the delegates.

The former president said at a Tuesday event: “Suppose for example you’re a voter. And you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom would you vote?"

Those remarks were interpreted as a shot at Obama.

The nominating speeches for Clinton and Obama will begin after the gavel opens the convention, according to a statement from the Democratic National Convention Committee. Vote “tally sheets will be collected by the Office of the Convention Secretary, and the Roll Call of the States will begin alphabetically,” the statement said.

The statement added that the vote would be finished by 5 p.m. MST (7 p.m. Eastern). Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. MST.