The Briefing Room will liveblog the speeches by former President Bill Clinton and vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (Del.) Wednesday night at the Democratic convention.
Clinton is is scheduled to speak at around 9:05 p.m. ET. Biden will take the stage after 10 p.m.
After Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) urged her supporters Tuesday to back her former rival, Barack Obama, for president, the political world will be watching Bill Clinton to see how far he's willing to make the case for an Obama administration. Clinton appeared to
undercut Obama on Tuesday, when seemed to question whether Democrats were making a mistake in nominating the Illinois senator.
Biden, tapped by Obama to join the ticket last weekend, will accept his party's vice presidential nomination in his speech. With his foreign policy knowledge, working class roots and his verbosity, Biden is expected to play the attack dog role against John McCain.
10 p.m.: This hour starts with a Steven Spielberg short honoring military service. It was introduced by Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), who was reportedly on Obama's veep short list. In the House, Edwards has pushed for more money for the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
10:20 p.m.: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is taking care of a bit housekeeping, asking the delegates to consider Biden's nomination as the Democrats' vice presidential candidate. As expected, the delegates nominated him by acclamation.
A video featuring Biden and his family is now playing in the hall.
10:24 p.m.: Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden is introducing his father. He's telling the story of how when Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate, his first wife and one of his daughters were killed in a car crash. His two sons were seriously injured.
"Delaware can get another senator, but my boys can't get another father," Beau Biden said his dad said.
He also joked about Joe Biden's loquacity, but said he says what's needed to be said and gets things done.
10:30 p.m.: Joe Biden begins his speech by lauding his family, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Clintons.
After accepting the nomination, he tells a joke: "No longer will you hear the eight most dreaded words in the English language: The vice president's office is on the phone."
10:37 p.m.: In the substantive portion of his speech, Biden gets into one of the themes stressed by Democrats on Tuesday and by Bill Clinton earlier on Wednesday: how the government should help rebuild the American Dream.
"Today, that American Dream feels like it's slowly slipping away... I've never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up," Biden said.
10:41 p.m.: Biden is telling Obama's story.
"Like many of us in this hall, Barack Obama has worked his way up," Biden said.
He noted that Obama could have worked on Wall Street, but instead worked as a community organizer on the the South Side of Chicago.
"There work is more than paycheck. It's dignity, it's respect, it's whether or not you can look your child in the eye and say, 'We're going to be all right,'"
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