Obama confirms nomination

DENVER – Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., accepted his party’s nomination in front of a crowd of more than 70,000 people Thursday.

Speaking on the final night of the Democratic National Convention at INVESCO Field at Mile High, Obama outlined the policies he will run on for the next three months.

Obama, who hopes to become the first black president, stuck with the same themes Democrats have focused on all week.

SLIDESHOW: Obama speaks at the DNC

“This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive,” he said. “Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And ... we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.”

Preceding Obama’s speech was a series of what the announcer in the stadium called “regular Americans,” including Barney Smith of Marion, Ind.

Smith, who informed the crowd he was a “lifelong Republican” until recently, told his own story - that a declining economy forced him to sell the machinery he used to earn a living. Smith said he wants a president who will “work for Barney Smith, not Smith Barney” (the financial company). Obama hit on several themes that will hit home with Hoosiers, promising to get rid of tax cuts for the rich and Fortune 500 companies, and reverse the recent slide in the job market.

“We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president – when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush,” Obama said.

By focusing on Bush, Obama kept with another of the Democrats’ themes this week: comparing Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to the current president.

Obama also talked about other hot-button issues like the war in Iraq.

“In the face of those young men who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who joined up during World War II,” Obama said.

A star-studded lineup preceded Obama Thursday evening, including former Vice President and 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore and musicians Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow, among others. Obama’s speech concluded the four-day long Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Republicans will meet next week in Minneapolis, and McCain is expected to announce a running mate Friday.