Obama acclaimed nominee, steals his own show

DENVER — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) officially secured the Democratic nomination Wednesday night, ending one of the longest primary fights in modern history and placing the first black nominee for president on a major-party ticket.

In a carefully choreographed show of unity, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who waged a long and often bitter fight to be the first female nominee, stepped in to cut short the roll call vote that she had sought. The delegates then elected Obama by acclamation.

{mosads}“In the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, let’s declare in one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and our next president,” Clinton said as thunderous applause shook the convention hall.

The symbolism was staged to overwhelm the back story of the convention, the infighting between the party’s new face and the its leading family.

But despite the show, there are indications that the fractures in the party have not healed.

Polls show that sizable numbers of Clinton supporters are considering voting for Republican John McCain, while others may sit out the presidential race. Supporters are still angry that Clinton wasn’t selected for vice president, and the nominee’s handling of the convention rubbed salt in the wounds.

“I’m not going to vote for Obama. I’m not going to vote for McCain,” said Blanche Darley, a Clinton delegate from El Paso, Texas. “I’m just not going to vote in that race.”

Not even Clinton’s announcement that she had cast her ballot Wednesday morning for Obama, nor her ardent call to defeat McCain, swayed Darley.

But it did sway Elaine Harris, a pledged Clinton delegate from West Virginia.

“When she told us how she voted, I decided if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me,” Harris said. “Once she said that, I was OK.”

Wednesday began with the word being given to state delegations that the voting was to begin in the morning. But the plan allowed delegates to change their votes right up to 4 p.m., after Clinton called her delegates together to release them.

Thousands of delegates and supporters poured into the Korbel ballroom of the Colorado Convention Center to hear Clinton formally release her delegates for the vote.

“Yes, we didn’t make it,” she told them, along with a bank of television cameras. “But boy, did we have a good time trying.”

Clinton spoke of the importance of electing Obama instead of McCain, but she didn’t press her supporters to change their vote. Instead, she told them they should “vote what’s in your heart.” But there were boos and shouts of “Nooo” when Clinton announced to her delegates she was releasing them.

Voting started on the floor not long after. States reported mixed totals, but it was clear many Clinton delegates had switched their vote. Kentucky overwhelmingly supported Clinton in the primary but reported a 36-24 vote for Obama to the floor.

{mospagebreak}Then New Hampshire voted unanimously for Obama. Clinton’s January win in New Hampshire revived her campaign after a dismal showing in Iowa. But Unity, N.H., was where Clinton and Obama came together after Obama sewed up the nomination. Delegation members decided over the course of the two previous days that they wanted to highlight that unity.

“We answered Hillary Clinton’s call to unite,” said New Hampshire state party Chairman Ray Buckley.

The symbolism kicked into overdrive when the New Mexico delegation interrupted the roll call to yield to Obama’s home state of Illinois, which yielded to the delegation from New York, which Clinton represents.

{mosads}Clinton then walked onto the convention floor and moved that voting be stopped. Clinton, who’d spoken passionately Tuesday night from the podium about the need for party unity, joined the New York delegation and proclaimed that “with eyes firmly focused on the future, in the name of unity, with the goal of victory,” the party should stop the state-by-state roll call and that Obama should be nominated.

The motion was seconded by a roar from everyone in the hall, leaving House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to take the podium and proclaim Obama the party’s nominee. Chants of “Hill-a-ry” changed over to Obama’s signature “Yes we can.”

“It was important that we recognize her role and her vote,” said Therese Murray, state Senate President for Massachusetts, which Clinton won in the primary contest.

“The hard feelings should be over.”

Cutting the vote short meant that Clinton delegates in states like West Virginia didn’t get to cast their ballots. But they said they didn’t mind.

“I think everybody had the attitude that we’re going to be unified,” said Belinda Biafore, who was a superdelegate as vice chairwoman of the West Virginia Democratic Party.

Despite the vote by acclamation, Clinton stressed in her motion that all votes would be counted, including votes for her in states that did not join the roll call.

Plenty of other Clinton delegates will be listed in that record of votes. One is Allida Black, a Clinton delegate from Arlington, Va.

“I will work my heart out for Obama,” Black said, “but I have to vote for Hillary first.”

Others have a harsher assessment. Shirley Love, a state senator and Clinton delegate from West Virginia, still thinks that Obama should have picked Clinton as his running mate, and that if he loses in the general election, he’ll rue that decision.

“Obama’s mistake,” he said, “was he should have picked Hillary Clinton [for vice president]. If he loses, they can’t say it was Hillary’s fault. But they can say it was his fault for not picking Hillary Clinton.”

Darley, the Clinton delegate who plans to leave her presidential ballot blank in November, said Obama is out of touch with Hispanic voters.

“I don’t trust him,” she said, “and I don’t like him.”

Sam Youngman contributed to this article.