"Democrats Wednesday officially nominated Barack Obama to be their candidate for president, making him the first African-American to lead a major party ticket." [CNN]

"Those are the reasons I support Barack Obama. And those are the reasons you should too." [Observer]

"Hillary Clinton will be on hand for Barack Obama's acceptance speech, but according to a source close to former President Bill Clinton, he will not: the source tells CNN that Clinton will not join his wife at Invesco Field Thursday night." (That's the entire story, at the moment.) [CNN]

"We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado." [Times]

There were a few points when it seemed Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention was going to come apart, its swelling high points and applause lines overwhelmed by a few too many awkward halts and reflexive uses of the term "you see." But by the time Obama wrapped up, her vulnerability and lack of polish looked like smartly-deployed correctives to the idea her husband is smooth, arrogant and lacks humanity. If you agreed with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann when he said "I'm beginning to sound borderline sycophantic on this" speech, you might have flipped over to Fox News Channel, only to listen to a choked-up Juan Williams saying similar things about how poignant the historic oratory was. Everyone seemed to be raving about Michelle, including the guy on Fox who warned, "She didn't give the Gettysburg address — let's not pretend." If Obama scored points by being a heartfelt novice, her kids closed the deal, even as they interrupted their father's prepared remarks and gently corrected him on what city he was in (Kansas City, not St. Louis). It might seem exploitive come morning, but for now enjoy the clip after the jump. UPDATE: Plus video of Michelle Obama's "I Love This Country" moment.

Michelle Obama is scheduled to speak at the Democratic Convention in about an hour. It's the first thing any reasonable number of people will care about at the big political show in Denver. When the speech ends, and talking head spin mode begins, everyone should remember the TV people are completely desperate to conjure news at the pointless, made-for-media convention. Here's some evidence, in the form of a CNN segment that seems to be hinting that Pepsi controls the Obama campaign and entire Democratic party, because of its logo.

"NBC News’ strategy in hiring young Luke Russert is now clear: whenever anything happens, Brian Williams can ask Luke what his dead father thinks about it." [Wonkette]

It's bad enough that 500 bloggers are wasting time and energy "covering" the pointless media spectacle of the upcoming political conventions. Can't tightly-orchestrated pageantry and vacant messaging be left for the television networks and political trades while top bloggers find important actual news that would otherwise go ignored? Apparently not. But the bloggers are making themselves look even more silly and co-opted by accepting a package of goodies, and an embarrassingly nerdy one at that. Reports the Wall Street Journal: