DENVER, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A Republican Iraqi war veteran from Florida nominated Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to be the Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Wednesday.
"It is my distinct honor," Michael Wilson told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, "as a lifelong Republican ... and a proud citizen of this great democracy to nominate Barack Obama."
Wilson, who was an Air Force medic in Iraq, said the United States needs new leadership in the White House "and that leader is Barack Obama."
Obama's nomination was seconded by Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama and Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida.
Wasserman-Schultz, a co-chair of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential run, said, "Democrats stand together today. We believe passionately in Barack Obama."
Delores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union, and a pledged Clinton delegate from California, nominated Clinton, saying, "I stand with Hillary Clinton as she stands with Barack Obama to take our country back."
Clinton's nomination was seconded by Jordan Apollo Pazell, a delegate from Utah, and Denise Williams Harris from New York, who said, "It is my pleasure to be part of a slice of history."
