Obama accepts Democrat nomination

Barack Obama has accepted the US Democrat presidential nomination with a 47-minute speech in front of 80,000 supporters at the party's national convention in Denver. Ecstatically received, the speech addressed Obama's perceived weaknesses head-on. Accused of insubstantial rhetoric, he produced long passages detailing how he would deal with the US economy and institute education reforms. Criticised for not tackling his rival John McCain directly, Obama tied the Republican candidate to George W Bush, blamed him for negative campaigning and referred to his advanced age.

Obama became only the third Democrat candidate ever to make his acceptance speech outside the convention hall, using a local sports stadium. The last candidate to do so was John F Kennedy in 1962.

The first African-American presidential candidate nominated by a major party, Obama was speaking on the 45th anniversary of civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King's legendary "I have a dream" speech. Obama brought the crowd to their feet when, concluding his address, he quoted King, and elaborated on the quotation, saying: "America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done... We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future."

He began the speech by thanking his nearest Democrat rival, "an inspiration to my daughters and yours, Hillary Rodham Clinton". On Tuesday, Hillary endorsed Obama ringingly.