This year, the head of the New York delegation to the convention is, as he has been every four years since 1996, Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the Assembly.

The man can't give a decent speech to save his life. How well he represents a state on the cusp of real change, given his ironfisted control of the Assembly, with all that implies - abysmal approval ratings, legislative gridlock, unaccountable legislators, the most dysfunctional state government in the union - is open to question. Whether Sheldon Silver is really the face we want to present to the world, when we have real superstars - Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer - really isn't debatable. He's not. If it's possible to exude stasis, Silver has managed it.

The head of the New York State Democratic Party is David Paterson, the governor. He should be the one to lead the party to the next convention.

Senator Schumer with Markos Moulitsas and contributing editor brownsox of Daily Kos.

The narratives emerging from last night's nomination spectacle are complex, but here's one that may be overlooked amidst all the unity hype and Clinton genuflection: speaker after speaker drew an arc of emancipation that stretched from women through native Americans to blacks and, now finally included in the line-up, gays and lesbians. John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, all mentioned the fight for equality that has taken gays and lesbians out of the shadows of American life, and embedded it firmly in the long history of other Americans fighting for equality before the law.

Considering that history - Bill Clinton signed the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, a discriminatory piece of legislation unconstitutional on its face, and even ran ads campaigning on that signature - that's a remarkable development.

And today, on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech, as America somewhat disbelieving prepares to elevate a black person to the pinnacle of power, the American family continues to expand. There's still a rocky road ahead, and we may never reach the conclusion of it; it's naive, for example, to believe that Barack Obama's nomination alone will exorcise forever the demons of racism. But today, this great, troubled nation of ours stands on the mountaintop and looks towards a promised land.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, rehearsing his glittering oratory.

Harlem Senator Bill Perkins, one of Obama's original (and at the time, few) backers in New York, in the Pepsi Center, having the last laugh.

Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) liveblogging.

Governor Christine Gregoire (D-WA), addressing the hippies bloggers.

Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana.

And here's our very own Deni Frand.

Via Albany Project, Craig Johnson in Denver.

Oh, here they are: Hillary deadenders, traitors and republicans, chanting on the streets. Not ready to move on, apparently.

Senator Clinton just called for and end to the roll call vote and moved that the convention nominate Barack Obama by acclamation.

The motion passed, and it was done: the Democratic Party has nominated a black man for the Presidency.

Inside the convention hall, yesterday.

Markos and Ned Lamont.

Scandal! In bed with Liza Sabater!

Last night, Hillary Clinton delivered the speech of her career, unified her party and kicked off the general election campaign in one fell swoop.

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. And whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.

(APPLAUSE)

We are on the same team. And none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future, and it's a fight we must win together.

(APPLAUSE)

I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights here at home and around the world...

(APPLAUSE)

... to see another Republican in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfills the hopes of our people. And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months or endured the last eight years to suffer through more failed leadership.

(APPLAUSE)

No way, no how, no McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our president.

It's on.