In many ways, the first three nights of the Democratic National Convention were merely prelude to the final day, in which the proceedings moved to the outdoor stadium at Mile High for a truly unique, truly open convention. 

Once again, here is the full video of Barack's acceptance speech, complete with a behind the scenes look at the final moments before he took the stage as well as shots of the incredible crowd of over 80,000 supporters:

Throughout the first three nights of the Democratic National Convention, audiences in Denver and those watching at home saw a wide range of speakers address many of the issues at stake at in this election, as well as offer their own personal perspectives on Barack Obama. Democrats and Republicans, a former president and ordinary Americans all took their turn at the podium in the Convention Hall. 

Republican Jim Leach spoke of the importance of transcending party lines in order to solve the pressing issues we now face, and John Kerry gave a powerful speech that challenged John McCain directly on many of those same issues.

One of the most emotional moments of the week was Ted Kennedy's appearance, in which he delivered a fiery defense of his core values, including his belief in the fundamental right to health care:

On Tuesday night, the Convention keynote speech was delivered by Mark Warner. But in the eyes of many, the night belonged to Hillary Clinton:

(You can also watch on scene reactions from some of the women who watched Hillary's speech).

On Wednesday night, former President Bill Clinton addressed a fired up, capacity crowd. 

Later in the evening, the final speaker took the podium -- newly announced vice presidential nominee Joe Biden:

But one of the most memorable highlights came early, on the first night. On Monday, Michelle Obama told her own story and described Barack as she has come to know him, before urging Americans to "fight for the world as it should be":

(You can also see a behind the scene look at Michelle preparing for her speech earlier in the day, as well as video of Barack watching Michelle speak from the living room of Jim and Alicia Girardeau in Kansas City.)

Philadelphia lawyer and life-long Democrat Party activist Philip J. Berg has filed a lawsuit that may change the course of history.

Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 28-30, including two days of interviewing since the close of the Democratic National Convention, finds Barack Obama with a six percentage point lead over John McCain in the presidential contest, 48% to 42%.

The past seven days have been a whirlwind of activity, from the announcement of Joe Biden as the vice presidential nominee, to Barack's acceptance speech in front of over 80,000 supporters at Mile High in Denver. We've had a record number of posts here on the HQ blog during these past few days, and over the course of the night tonight we're going to provide a look back at some of the highlights of what was an historic week.  

For our staff on the ground, the week kicked off with an early walkthrough of the Pepsi Center, which would be home for the first three days of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

On Monday night John Legend performed his new song, "If You're Out There," live for the first time on the Convention stage. Earlier in the day our video team was on hand for Legend's rehearsal, and he took time to talk about the motivation and meaning behind the song, his take on Barack and what is at stake in this election:

Each morning and early afternoon, constituent groups met a few blocks away at the Denver Convention Center for caucus meetings. Many of the delegates also took time to help with local service projects throughout the city.

On Wednesday afternoon, veteran and former "Dinner with Barack" guest Michael Wilson formally entered Barack Obama's name into nomination as the Democratic nominee.

Just a few hours later, one of the most dramatic moments of the week took place on the Convention floor, when Hillary Clinton called for a halt to the formal roll call of delegate votes and moved to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation:

On Thursday, the events moved to the stadium at Mile High, where a palpable sense of energy could be felt even as the final preparations were being made. Be early evening, the crowd had begun to gather in anticipation of a moment many grassroots supporters across the country had been working towards for 19 long months . . .

We'll have more highlights, videos and photos throughout the night, as well as a look back at some of the major speeches from the Convention.

Today, Barack Obama and Joe Biden traveled to the western edge of Lake Erie in Ohio and held a discussion on the economy on the roof of the Lucas County Public Library in Toledo.

Attending the meeting was a small, diverse crowd of guests, all of whom were intent on hearing about new solutions.

The folks here in Toledo are hurting. Their jobs have been shipped overseas, and they want to know why.

Joe Biden had this to say:

Why is a company going stay in Toledo if the roads aren’t as good, access to the ports aren’t as good, the airports aren’t as good, or why in Delaware, why in New York or why anywhere? Why are they going to do that when you can invest in a country, where you can get your goods out -- not just labor cheaper -- but you get your goods out cheaper?

One of the ways to keep America’s corporations here, and Barack has been talking about it for three years, and I’ve been talking about it as well -- the way is to invest in the infrastructure.

And, by the way, if we invest just twenty billion dollars a year or ten billion dollars a year in the United States of America, in infrastructure towards airports, roads, sewer systems, guess what? You are creating jobs where the average pay, even for laborers, is fifty thousand dollars a year. There’s two ways of dealing with it – you’ll cover both ends.

Barack discussed another idea on how an Obama-Biden administration would offer more jobs to Americans and improve the quality of their lives:

Start building highspeed rail. I mean there’s no reason why not -- especially these days. You want to take a flight, you know, you gotta drive there, take off your shoes, you get delayed for an hour…. you don’t even get peanuts on the plane, you know? Then they lose your bags at the other end!

Why not build high speed light rail like every other advanced nation? That would save us on energy costs, save people time and put people back to work. That makes sense.

Later, Barack was asked what he and his administration would do to improve our cities. Here is what he had to say:

Peter Rubi
August 31th, 2008
Hamilton, Indiana

Hate Speeches I - "Jesus was a poor black man" - Barack hated because he "doesn't fit the mold" - "Hillary never had a cab not pick her up .. - "Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single-parent home" - "It was soldiers of the 3rd Marine Regimen of Rome - who had fun with Jes …

All right, I've had a good time with the Palin baby scandal, I'll admit.

As the recent trend shows, Obama did not gain any additional support in the poll since his generally well-reviewed acceptance speech on Thursday night. However, the Aug.