The Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama as its 2008 presidential candidate, making him the first African-American presidential nominee in a major political party. He won the nomination in an emotional moment during the roll call: After New Mexico yielded its place to Illinois during the alphabetical-by-state roll call, Illinois then yielded its place to New York. In the middle of the New York delegation--surrounded by Governor David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senator Charles Schumer,......

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has finally made his decision for his running mate and announced that he was selecting Senator Joseph Biden through a series of text messages that went out after 3:00 a.m. An e-mail--from Obama "himself"--later followed, saying, "I have some important news that I want to make official. I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate. Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois -- the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago."...