USA Democrats formally back Obama and Biden 28/08/08 13:49 CET

Now it is official. Barack Obama is the Democrats’ presidential nominee and Joe Biden, his running mate.

Obama delighted the party faithful with an earlier than expected appearance on stage at the convention in Denver. The mood was euphoric, with a series of stirring speeches.

Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden had the warmest of words for Obama.“The choice in this election is clear,” he said. “These times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader. A leader who can change, the change that everybody knows we need. Barack Obama is going to deliver that change.”

The Clintons received a rapturous welcome. And it was Obama’s vanquished rival, Hillary Clinton, who asked delegates to suspend their roll call of states and make him the nominee by acclamation. She said: “Let’s declare together, in one voice, right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president.”

Having dominated the party since the early 1990s, the Clintons are handing on the baton. From Bill Clinton, a man who has held the top job in the United States, there was unqualified praise for the Democrats new choice.

“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,” he said.

All that remains is for Obama himself to formally accept his party’s nomination – something he will do later today.