Obama nomination a key moment in TV coverage

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's move to proclaim rival Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for president set a tone that carried through the convention's third night.

It was a meticulously organized peace offering done at a crucial time. Clinton stepped to a microphone on the convention's floor at 6:47 p.m. EDT, when ABC, CBS and NBC were in the midst of their evening newscasts. All three newscasts carried the event live on the East Coast, along with the cable news networks. (ABC broke into regular programming in non-Eastern time zones, while CBS and NBC didn't).

Almost immediately, network anchors and pundits--tipped off by some of the genuine emotion they saw in the room--took a step back to recognize the historical import of a black man being nominated by a major party as its candidate for president.

NBC's Tom Brokaw said he saw an acquaintance, a black woman business executive, have a brief emotional meltdown.

"However it turns out and however you feel about his candidacy," this is a moment "about America finally beginning to come to grips with the complexity of the racial issues that have bedeviled us for so long," Brokaw said. "This is a huge step. This is a generational step."

CNN's Anderson Cooper said it was "incredibly moving."

"The word `history' gets thrown around and it's used rather loosely," said ABC's Charles Gibson. "But in this instance it truly is."

It was a perspective largely missing during the first two nights. On Tuesday, most television coverage had been singularly focused on what Clinton would say when she addressed the convention, to the exclusion of messages delivered by any other speaker about Obama's upcoming campaign against Republican John McCain. When she was done, the analysis focused on whether or not Clinton had healed the rift between her supporters and Obama's.

Political strategist and CNN commentator James Carville had bristled Monday, saying Democrats had essentially wasted the first night of the convention. "If this party has a message, it's done a hell of a job of hiding it tonight," Carville said.