As nyceve noted in a superb piece last night, many can take credit for the historic nomination of Obama for this nation's highest office.  While she specifically mentioned LBJ as someone who made it happen, biographer Robert Caro offers considerably more detail on this subject in a superb op-ed piece in today's NYT.

As we all know, Obama's ability to pile up landslide margins of AA voters starting in SC played an essential role in his victory.  As Caro notes, prior to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, black voter registration levels were abysmal in the South:

In 1983 at the beginning of the oil shale bust, when seemingly overnight the oil companies and their legions of carpet baggers left Colorado, a young hispanic State legislator named Federico Pena ran for Mayor with the campaign slogan of "imagine a Great City". Many scoffed at his campaign slogan as not having substance and only an election gimmick. Republicans and critics howled as they labeled the articulate and energetic Mexican Mayor and his coalition of progressive supporters as "Feddy and the Dreamers".

Our wildest imaginations have become our fallen aspirations in Denver. Thank you Mayor Pena for imagining a great city with hope we could believe in and the commitment to get it done.

George Bush was Vice President and his son Neil Bush was a member of the board of directors of Denver-based Silverado Savings and Loan during the 1980s' infamous Savings and Loan banking crisis. Silverado's collapse cost taxpayers $1 billion and devastated the Colorado economy into a deep recession that many old timers still call: The Denver Depression.

Some things never change.

Now is the time to imagine a great country.

In light of all the speeches this week and because I can hardly contain my excitement for tonight, I wrote my own little speech and just wanted to share it with anyone!

The word "historic" has been a near mantra when describing Barack Obama's candidacy. Yesterday, his nomination as the first black candidate for a major political party caused delegates, political commentators and viewers alike to tear up at the grand significance of that moment.

A new Washington Post poll provides a snapshot of how Obama's candidacy has stirred hopes in the hearts of black voters:

Nearly two-thirds of black voters in the new poll said they could see one of their children becoming president, up 11 percentage points from the fall of 1992. At 47 percent, whites are about where they were back then on the question.

As an aside, the poll also reveals this interesting tidbit:

For white voters, the pride issue helps to predict their preference in the voting booth. Obama is the choice of 59 percent of those whites who said he has made them more proud, while Sen. John McCain, his Republican opponent, is favored by 57 percent of those who said Obama's being the first African American nominee has no effect on their level of pride.

A Republican talking head was just on MSNBC with Chuck Todd saying that they are having "fun with the Doric columns".

For those of you who do not have an architectural education under your belt and may not understand why so many government buildings in this country - federal, state and local - have these Doric Columns in various iterations, I'm here to give you the simple answer.

First let's just be clear on what a Doric column is.  

Here is a picture of a Doric column:

http://www.bobvila.com/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/...

For comparison here is what is known as a Corinthian colum:

http://en.wikipedia.org/...

Tonight, Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for President.  His is a singular achievement for which he deserves much personal credit.  He earned it.  

I'd like to pay tribute to some of the African Americans who struggled and sacrificed in the attempts for freedom and equality in the history leading to this day.  

The first enslaved Africans arrived in Colonial Jamestown, Virginia in 1619:

In August 1619, 20 black men were purchased from a passing [Dutch] slave ship bound from Luanda, Angola, to Vera Cruz, Mexico. However, these may not have been the first; 32 Africans were noted five months earlier in a Virginia census of 1619.

Come around after the fold for a little history of how we got to this day and the many who struggled for freedom and equality in the almost 400 years since the first enslaved Africans set foot in what later became the United States.

Yesterday, in Denver, Tent State sponsored a music festival featuring artists like Jello Biafra and Rage Against the Machine. Co-sponsored by Amnesty International and Iraq Veterans Against the War, over 9,000 people attended the event. Long considered the leftist fringe and " violent radicals" of our country, protesters participating in events like these have been marginalized and ignored, feeding their anger at the belief that they have no voice. That changed yesterday. Follow me below the jump.

Seventy-five year old Inocencia Coto in South Florida who has always supported Republican candidates in a district of predominantly Cuban Americans who usually vote 90% Republican in national elections won’t be supporting the Republican in her district this year.  She’s actively working for the Democratic challenger, Raul Martinez, who is within four percentage points of eight term Republican incumbent, Mario Diaz-Balart.

Okay this is a simple action diary.  What's the action?  Getting off your rumps, coming out tonight, and meeting each-other at the OSU Rally!

Come on, there's not too many days left in the election! Let's go from net-roots to grassroots in Central Ohio!

I'm a frequent DK commenter, but I tend to stay away from diaries unless I have some insight that I feel is obvious, but I think everyone on the site has stepped over. Since the posters and diarists here are um... really friggin smart, this rarely happens. Since I've heard a lot of handwringing based on the recent ad that has Hillary's "lifetime of experience" jab, coupled with frequent suggestions that Haillary should be doing something to counter it, I figured I'd point out why that hasn't happened yet.

I would imagine I am like a lot of voters -- what I knew of Joe Biden in the past came from sound bytes and newspaper stories. I knew who he was, but not much about what defined him.

When he was selected as the running mate last weekend, I thought it a reasonable choice, but maybe not the most exciting option that could have been chosen.

I would amend that opinion after last night.

(More below)

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King - Aug. 28th, 1963

Every four years it happens... I watch the Democratic convention and I get played like a violin. The speakers trot out my most deeply held values and highest aspirations.  Too often that's just been prelude to another crushing disappointment in the form of electoral defeat.  This is a pattern that started for me in 1972 when at the tender age of 13 I was already so horrified by Richard Nixon that I volunteered to stuff envelopes and even help walk precincts for George McGovern.  The choice between Nixon and McGovern seemed so clear to me, and it was something of a trauma to wake up and realize that most of America couldn't see it.  There was nothing subtle about that election: McGovern lost every state but Massachusetts, and the Democratic party started playing defense in every presidential election ever since.  

But something's different this year.

Note: I'm the author of the book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest(watch my live call-in Sun. Sept. 7 at noon ET on C-SPAN2), but I'm not part of the Obama campaign.

National Review writer Stanley Kurtz put himself into the headlines earlier this month by pushing the guilt-by-association link between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama because they both worked on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to improve public schools. When Kurtz went to look at the Annenberg files at the University of Illinois at Chicago, librarians temporarily blocked access out of concerns about whether they had the proper permission to open them to the public. UIC quickly changed their dumb decision, and this week Kurtz went to read the Annenberg papers.

Previously, Kurtz had speculated that "access to the CAC records promises to provide a treasure trove of documentary evidence."

And what did he find? Absolutely nothing.

For those who do not recognize the title, it is the beginning of each of 4 questions that are asked at the Seder, the Jewish Passover feast.

I describe myself as an athiest, but I am of Jewish heritage, and attending my family's Seder each year is my one remaining tie to jewish traditions and one that I value very much.

Why is this night different from all other nights?

At the Seder, the questions are asked by the youngest person at the table so that the meaning of the ritual can be explained.

I will be channeling my 8 year old son asking 3 questions to explain my personal reactions to tonights historic event.

Is it just me or are most of the pundits out there bashing Obama some middle aged white dudes who long ago lost all relevance or credibilty because of their glaring partisan natures? This is part rant, part substantive diary.

In fact, as Barr's website reports, both McCain and Obama failed to file the necessary paperwork by the August 26 deadline to get their names on the Texas ballot. But Obama wasn't counting on winning Texas, and McCain most certainly was. Of course, there will probably be some state-level shenanigans which end with the law being twisted (or broken) to put McCain on the ballot, but what does it say about John McCain that he didn't even care enough to get his name put on in a legal, timely way?

I laughed at them.  Silly cultists, drinking Kool-Aid, talking about The Savior, The Messiah, The One.  I laughed at the slogans they chanted.  Fired up.  Hope and Change.  Yes we can.

Bunch of nonsense.

I said I'd vote for him anyway.  He's a Democrat, and we need one in the White House.  

I said I'd vote for him anyway.  McCain is worse, a continuation of eight disastrous years, and an assault on every single one of my personal and political values.  

But this week, I stopped being just a Democrat who will vote for the party's nominee.

This week, I became an Obamabot.

I'm reading a lot today about how African Americans are moved to tears by seeing Barack Obama named America's first black president. (OK, major party nominee, but it's matter of time.)

It's more than justified. Particularly on this anniversary of MLK's 'dream' speech.

But I was moved as well because this is an amazing moment for all Americans, for all democrats, and for the world.

It's also an amazing moment for Generation X, so let me stake out that position.