TODAY'S PAPERS

Making it Official By Daniel Politi
The papers all lead with Barack Obama officially becoming the first African American presidential nominee of a major party. USA Today makes the point directly in its banner headline: "A Night for History," which is a theme that is echoed in all the papers. In a carefully choreographed event that was the result of weeks of negotiations, Sen. Hillary Clinton stepped up to the microphone as her home state of New York was called upon to cast its votes. Clinton then moved to suspend the roll call and nominate Obama by acclamation "in the spirit of unity." The Washington Post points out that Clinton's "gesture of conciliation brought to a conclusion the closest and hardest-fought nomination battle Democrats have waged in the modern era of presidential politics." And the crowd went wild. "With the tension released, the scene inside the Pepsi Center was like an end-of-semester party," notes the Los Angeles Times. "Delegates whooped, embraced and danced in the aisles."

Despite all the careful planning, the New York Times points out that Democrats weren't eager to draw "attention to the lingering resentments between Clinton and Obama delegates" and it was the "first time in at least 50 years that Democrats have not scheduled their roll call on prime-time television." In the end, there wasn't much reason to worry. As the Wall Street Journal highlights, "most, but not all, of Sen. Clinton's loyal supporters already were following her example" and casting their votes for Obama before the former first lady ended the roll call. Even former President Bill Clinton's home state of Arkansas cast most of its votes for Obama.

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Daniel Politi writes "Today's Papers" for Slate. He can be reached at todayspapers@slate.com.