DENVER, CO — In the middle of a roll call vote  on the convention floor in which she received far fewer delegates than she’d won in the primaries, Hillary Clinton called on the convention to suspend the rules and the vote and to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation.

Clinton was expected to cut off the vote, partially to avoid an embarrassingly small delegate total — far smaller than the 1900 delegates she’d received earlier this year. As the states voted one by one, that prediction was borne out. Even Arkansas, Clinton’s adopted home state, delivered a powerful gesture of unity by granting all 47 of its delegates to Obama.

As Obama approached the necessary delegate total, Illinois — which passed on voting when its turn came — took the baton from New Mexico, and subsequently yielded it to New York. Thats when Hillary herself walked onto the floor.

Up to that point, she’d received far less applause than Obama when her name was called, but upon her arrival the delegates in the house erupted in a massive cheer.

Clinton asked the convention’s secretary and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the rule change, which was quickly granted when every voice in the crowd rose to second the motion — and to say “aye.”

Gaveling quickly after asking for any no’s (there were none), Pelosi proclaimed the motion passed — and shortly thereafter informed the convention that Obama had accepted.

Hillary Clinton stood alongside Barack Obama at a women’s fundraising breakfast for the Obama Victory Fund. The minimum donation - $250. This after attending a $33,000/plate Manhattan dinner together the night before.

On her home turf, Clinton urged her supporters to get behind Barack Obama’s campaign. Republicans, as much as they should, she said, will not “go go gently into that good night.”  She continued, “No matter how self evident it is to us that this is the man, this is the candidate, this is the one we should be voting for, working for and making our president – there are millions of your fellow Americans who aren’t there yet, so we have to really be engaged and that’s what I’m asking you to do.” Besides, she noted, Tthe Democratic Party is a family, you know, sometimes a dysfunctional family but it’s a family.”

The former candidate shared with the mostly female crowd a backstage moment. “Barack and I were talking before we came out before about the rigors of the campaign trail, which are many…Barack said, ‘You look kind of rested.’ I said, ‘Well ‘kind of’ is the right descriptor,’ but I’m actually, if you don’t tell anybody, trying to exercise a little bit, which I’m told does wonders for a person. Because during the campaign, you I’m sure read that Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done. Just one of those Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives,” she joked as the crowd laughed.

For his part, Obama admitted he “desperately” needs both Hillary and Bill Clinton to be involved in this campaign. “If we are working together and all the women in this room are working together - there is no way we’re gonna lose in November. That I’m absolutely confident of,” he said.

As he has since he announced he was the presumptive Democratic nominee on the night of the final primary, Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton - this time with a twist. Looking out at the sea of women, Obama said, “As someone who took the same historic journey as Senator Clinton – although I didn’t do it in heels – who shared the stage with her many times over these last 16 months, I know firsthand how tough she is, how passionate she is, and how committed she is to the causes that bring us here today.”

Obama continues with Thursday’s theme and will hold a town hall in Fairfax, Virginia, this afternoon geared towards women’s economic security.

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Hillary Clinton conceded nothing tonight at Baruch College in New York - not the delegate count, where her rival Barack Obama passed the threshold of 2,118 delegates required to win the nomination, and certainly not the Democratic primary.

Instead, Clinton thanked the voters of South Dakota for delivering a final win in her 2008 campaign, and told supporters she’d continue fighting for her beliefs and for theirs — from instituting universal health care to ending the war in Iraq.

To that end, she said she’s going ahead with her campaign — but with an eye toward party unity. “In the coming days, I’ll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move forward with the best interests of our party and our country guiding my way,” she said.

With Obama clinching the requisite number of delegates tonight, moving forward for Clinton would mean convincing delegates currently pledged to him to switch sides at the convention — which some Democrats say would be a blow to the Party. But Clinton said she has Democrats’ interests at heart. “I am committed to uniting our Party, so we move forward, stronger and more ready than ever to take back the White House this November,” she said.

“Now the question is, where do we go from here, and given how far we’ve come and where we need to go as a party, it’s a question I don’t take lightly,” Clinton told the crowd. “This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight.”

She asked supporters to help her decide by submitting suggestions on her website — where, conveniently, they can donate to the campaign. Those in the room seemed to be in agreement on where to go next — chanting “Denver! Denver!” to urge the New York Senator to take her fight to the convention in August.

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Fox has learned that Sen. McCain raised $2 million at his fundraiser at the Plaza Hotel in New York City Tuesday night. The event was hosted by former NY Sen. Al D’Amato, who brought out a lot of “heavy hitters,” according to a senior McCain campaign adviser. Former Rudy Giuliani campaign officials also helped organize the big ticket event.

The campaign raised a total of $12 million in February (1/3 of what Obama and Clinton took in) but McCain has been on a rigorous $$$ schedule during March–sometimes attending two to three a day. Campaign officials said they are expanding the fundraising operation as they seek to compete with the record breaking totals on the Democratic side.

The AZ Senator heads abroad next week but returns to the campaign/money trail March 24 in California.

It must be a bizarre thing to give a victory speech when you’ve lost more states than you’ve won (at least so far, though the big enchilada of California is still out there). But that’s what Hillary Clinton just did in New York — where she did bring home a solid victory.

She spent much of the time giving her stump speech, talking about the America she sees — one with health care for all and no war in Iraq. But she also talked about fighting to keep the Republicans out of the White House, saying “I won’t let anyone swift boat this country’s future.”

And she congratulated Barack Obama for his victories, saying she looks forward to continuing the campaign and the debate over how to fix the country’s problems.

It was a subdued speech, different than her tone in previous victory speeches in NH and NV — perhaps because she’s had a cough and voice problems for the last several days, which her advisers chalk up to non-stop campaigning.

Catch the highlights here:

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The Clintons rolled into an elementary school in Chappaqua, NY around 8am to cast their ballots, after making the rounds on the morning talk shows. Sen Clinton and her husband voted, while Chelsea greeted voters and supporters (she’s registered in Manhattan).

After emerging from the voting booth, Senator Clinton said “it’s a very humbling and overwhelming experience to cast my vote today,” adding “I hope a lot of people will come out and vote.”

As she shook hands with the crowd inside the local elementary school, President Clinton called voting for his wife “one of the proudest moments of my life.”

“I feel good,” he said. Asked whether the race would go on beyond today, he replied “I don’t know. I just want it to go today.”

Sen Clinton thanked the poll workers, and told the assembled press that she is “just very excited about today. We should encourage everyone across the country to come out and vote in this national primary”

But never one to veer too far from her stump speech, she said there’s a lot at stake in this election because of the challenges facing the country. “America’s up to it,” she said. “We just need a president who’s ready on day one.”

After voting, the family shook hands with supporters both inside and outside for about 15 minutes before going back to the house in Chappaqua to do a spate of satellite TV interviews and watch the returns before tonight’s results rally in Manhattan.

Former New York Governor has endorsed John McCain for president, just in time for Super Tuesday.

Governor Pataki made the announcement in the middle of Grand Central Station, flanked by Senator McCain and his former rival Rudy Giuliani.
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California’s movie-star Governor Arnold Scwharzenegger is throwing his support behind John McCain—giving the Senator his second major endorsement in less than 24 hours.

On Wednesday, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race and endorsed McCain. Both Rudy and Ah-nuld accompanied McCain on a tour of a Los Angeles solar technology company Thursday. Afterward, a reporter asked whether the support of the governor and mayor do anything to help the Senator with the conservative wing of the Republican party.
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Gov. Schwarzenegger explained why he decided to endorse McCain, when just days ago he said he was staying out of it.
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The endorsement was McCain’s only public event of the day. That means he spent almost two days in California, and never held a campaign event where he actually met voters face to face. A McCain aide said the only thing the campaign wanted circulated Thursday was the image of the Senator with the governor.

Over the course of the last two days, a slew of polls were released showing Sen. John McCain nearly tied with or now edging out Rudy Giuliani in Feb 5 primary states the former NYC mayor’s campaign had considered guaranteed winners (New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware.)

Additionally, the  McCain campaign has issued the following press releases in the last two days:

01.23.08         Delaware Leaders Join Supporters Of John McCain
01.22.08         John McCain Announces Connecticut Leadership Team
01.22.08         John McCain 2008 Announces New York Leadership Team
01.22.08         John McCain 2008 Announces New Jersey Leadership Team
01.22.08         Connecticut State Senator Anthony Guglielmo Endorses John McCain For President
01.22.08         John McCain 2008 Announces New Jersey Legislative Endorsements
01.22.08         Senator Alfonse D’Amato Endorses John McCain For President

Message to Rudy:  McCain is ready for battle on your home turf on February 5th.

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Jacksonville, FL — Despite falling polls and a shortage of campaign cash, Rudy Giuliani attempted to assure voters Monday that his strategy is “playing out the way we thought it would play out.”

The latest polls out Monday showed Giuliani trailing in his home state of New York to Sen. John McCain. Giuliani is down by 12 in a new Sienna poll after leading McCain by 33 points in December and is trailing the Arizona senator in his home state by 15 percent in the latest Marist poll.

The NY polls come on the heels of two other recent polls showing him also losing ground in New Jersey and Connecticut–two states his strategists referred to as “momentum-proof,” and fall in line with his fall in national polling.

Giuliani’s reaction to the polls: it’s all about Florida. “For us, it’s Florida. We’ll think about New York and California. We’ll think about Illinois. We’ll think about Missouri….we’ll think about everything on the morning of the 30th of January,” Giuliani said. “It’s playing out the way we thought it would play out. Now the most important thing is, we thought it would play out with us our winning Florida so that’s going to be an important thing for us to accomplish…it’s all about Florida.”

Hizzoner will make one stop in the West Palm Beach area Tuesday before returning to New York to raise some necessary campaign bucks. He has previously said that he is planning to spend “almost everything” on the Sunshine State primary.