Time of Speeches Moved Up; Hillary 'Releases' Delegates, Does Not Direct Them to Vote for Obama
UPDATED: Hillary Stops Roll Call Vote With Call for Obama Nomination 'By Acclamation'...
By Brad Friedman on 8/27/2008, 1:45pm PT  

Blogged by Brad Friedman from Denver...

[Updated at end of article...Including details on Hillary Clinton dramatically saving the day...]

Allow me to stress the unconfirmed nature of this report before I even tell you what I'm hearing. It's difficult to get information and/or confirm out here on such things, so take it with the grain of salt that it's currently intended to be served with.

That said, a reliable source on one of the state delegations tells me that today's nominating speeches have been moved up from 4:30pm to 3:45pm MT. (That much, we've now been able to confirm from a couple of different sources.) The reason for the move, so the speculation has it, is that there may be concerns of a floor fight on the way in regard to the roll-call nominations of Clinton and Obama.

I don't have much more than that, and Clinton's hopes for her supporters to move their support to Obama during last night's speech seemed pretty damned clear. So, for now, let's consider this report a rumor only for the moment (which I don't usually like reporting without confirm). But if the source is correct, it's certainly something noteworthy enough to watch out for, along with all of those caveats.

Todd Beeton at MyDD reports on Hillary's comments, within the last hour or so, at a meeting of her delegates. Some of her noteworthy comments to her delegates, as reported by Beeton, follow...

"It's wonderful to see all of you so I could thank you." The place is cheering and chanting.

She's praising the delegates for the hard work that they did to become delegates.

"This has been a joy. Yes, we didn't make it but boy did we have a good time trying." "It is traditional that we have nominations, that we have a roll call. We have candidates that look for ways to work so we come out of here to win in November. I come here today to release you as my delegates." The place is mostly booing. "Noooooooooo!"

"What that means is that both Senator Obama's name and mine will be put into nomination this afternoon. I have spoken to many of you who have expressed your questions about what you should do. Many of you feel a responsibility to represent your voters. Others of you want the chance to vote what's in your heart. Still others will be voting for Senator Obama because they want to demonstrate their commitment to the party and the nomninee. So I am not telling you what to do."

"I signed my ballot this morning for Senator Obama."

"What is important to come out of today is that we nominate Senator Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the president and vice president of the United States."

Any additional info that anyone may have, is certainly welcome in comments. If I can get anymore prior to tonight, I'll update here appropriately.

UPDATE BY DES: David Dayen over at Calitics is on the floor of the convention hall, and says the roar of approval for Obama's nomination is deafening. "There will be no fight on this floor," he predicted.

The Illinois delegation has passed on their vote for the moment, presumably to be the ones to put Obama over the top for the nomination, as his home state.

2nd UPDATE BY DES: Illinois yielded to New York, and now Sen. Hillary Clinton herself is speaking on behalf of the New York delegation, calling for a voice vote, which quickly puts Obama over the top for the nomination. The crowd goes wild...

LATE UPDATE BY BRAD: Hillary Clinton's appearance on the floor with the NY delegation, calling for the suspension of the roll call vote and nomination of Obama "by acclamation" rippled through the Pepsi Center. Perhaps the first actual piece of "news" I've seen out there in three days. I spoke with a Congresswoman from California, on her way out of the arena an hour or so later and she told me, "I'm breathing a sigh of relief...it got pretty dicey there for a bit."

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Article Categories: Election 2008, DNC, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama