2008 Democratic National Convention: Wednesday

Barack Obama, right, surprises his running mate for the White House, Joe Biden, after Biden gives his acceptance speech.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech as the Democratic Party’s nominee for vice president.  (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Joe Biden praised Barack Obama during his acceptance speech. “These times require more than a good soldier -- they require a wise leader,” Biden said. “A leader who can deliver change. The change everybody knows we need. Barack Obama will deliver that change.”  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Before Joe Biden gave his acceptance speech, former President Bill Clinton, pictured, took to the podium. “Everything I learned in my eight years as president and in the work I have done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job,” Clinton said.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Bill Clinton addresses the Democratic National Convention. He lauded Barack Obama as “a 21st century incarnation of the old-fashioned American dream” and an example of the nation’s “progress toward a more perfect union.”  (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Members of the Colorado delegation react as they watch Bill Clinton join the stage. He was greeted by a more-than-three-minute standing ovation.  (Chris Carlson / Associated Press)

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, surrounded by fellow state politicians Sen. Charles E. Schumer, left, and Gov. David E. Patterson, right, calls for a halt to the traditional state-by-state roll call and asks that Barack Obama instead be nominated by acclamation.  (Robyn Dixon AFP/Getty Images)

Hillary Rodham Clinton is surrounded by New York delegates and the media as she leaves the convention floor after halting the state-by-state roll call and asking for the immediate nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Bertha Means, an 88-year-old civil rights pioneer from Austin, sits with the Texas delegation on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada speaks at the convention.  (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge performs at the convention.  (Robyn Beck AFP/Getty Images)

Denver police tactical unit stand guard at a security entrance around the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver, where the convention is taking place.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A man sells campaign souvenirs, including pens that play a recording of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s laugh, outside the Pepsi Center.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Delegates from Nevada cheer during the counting of their nominating votes as the convention roll call takes place.  (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Hillary Rodham Clinton interrupted the traditional state-by-state delegation roll call, asking for it to be suspended so that Barack Obama would be immediately nominated by acclamation.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Hillary Rodham Clinton smiles after her call for the nomination of Barack Obama by acclamation was seconded at the convention.  (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)

A screen shows the roll call votes by delegates of Hawaii at the convention.  (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Samuel Lathem, president of the Delaware state AFL-CIO, cries as Barack Obama is officially nominated as the Democratic Party’s pick for president.

Florida delegate Lavon Bracy cheers for Barack Obama after he officially becomes the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.  (Shawn Thew / EPA)

New York delegation members fist-bump during the Democratic convention roll call.  (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images)

Anti-war protesters march outside the Pepsi Center, while inside the Democrats made history by formally nominating Barack Obama as the first black presidential nominee of a major political party.  (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP / Getty Images)

Dr. Shirley McKellar, left, and her sister, Martha Ross, wait for Hillary Rodham Clinton to arrive at the convention and, later, to release her delegates to Barack Obama.  (Max Whittaker / Getty Images)