On Friday, Republican（共和党） candidate（候选人） John McCain announced his choice for vice president（副主席）: Alaska Governor（州长） Sarah Palin. She is forty-four years old and largely unknown in national politics. She was elected governor two years ago.

She will be the first woman on a Republican presidential（总统的） ballot（选票）. The Democrats（民主党） nominated（被提名） Geraldine Ferraro for vice president in nineteen eighty-four. Governor Palin praised Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton for their historic（具有历史意义的） campaigns（参选）. And she said her own candidacy（候选资格） means that women still have a chance for the White House.

She appeared with John McCain in Ohio（俄亥俄州） Friday, on the Arizona（亚利桑那州） senator's（参议院） seventy-second birthday. The Republican Party opens its nominating convention Monday in Minneapolis（明尼阿波利斯）-Saint Paul, Minnesota（明尼苏达州）.

On Thursday night, in Denver, Colorado（科罗拉多）, Democrat（民主党员） Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination to be the forty-fourth president.

BARACK OBAMA: "With profound（深深的） gratitude（致谢） and great humility（谦虚）, I accept your nomination for the presidency（总统职位） of the United States."

Barack Obama accepting the Democratic Party nomination for president in Denver, Colorado

The first-term senator from Illinois（伊利诺斯州） is the first black nominee（候选人） of a major（主要） American political party. He is forty-seven, the Hawaiian-born son of a father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas（堪萨斯州）. He narrowly（勉强地） defeated Hillary Clinton in the primary（初期） season. She received eighteen million votes（投票）.

The race against John McCain was very close heading into the conventions. In large part, this week's Democratic convention was aimed at uniting the party.

Hillary and Bill Clinton gave speeches in support of Barack Obama. And she called on delegates（代表） during a roll call（名单） vote of the states to vote for him "with one voice（异口同声）." They suspended（停止） the voting and declared him the nominee.

His running mate（竞选伙伴） is Joe Biden, chairman（主席） of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee（参议院外交部）. The longtime Delaware（特拉华州） senator ran for president twenty years ago and again this year.

Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech（提名演讲） before tens of thousands at an open-air sports stadium. He said America is at a defining moment, with the nation at war and the economy in great trouble. He said "the American promise" is threatened（面临危险） from eight years of what he called "the failed policies of George W. Bush."

Barack Obama said he does not think Senator McCain knows what is going on in the lives of Americans. The Democrat promised to cut taxes（赋税） for ninety-five percent of working families. And he promised a goal to end dependence（依赖） on oil from the Middle East in ten years. He also said he would only send troops（部队） into harm's way with a clear mission（任务）.

BARACK OBAMA: "I will end this war in Iraq responsibly（负责地） and finish the fight against al-Qaida（基地组织） and the Taliban in Afghanistan（阿富汗）. I will rebuild our military（军队） to meet future conflicts（冲突）. But I will also renew（恢复） the tough（强硬）, direct diplomacy（外交） that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb（抑制） Russian aggression（攻击、侵害）."

Barack Obama spoke on the anniversary（纪念日） of a major event in the American civil rights movement（美国人权运动）. Thursday was forty-five years since Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.