Obama’s daughter Sasha rests her head on her mother’s lap in Denver. (AP)

Denver, Aug. 29: For one whole week there have been parties all over Denver. Many of this city’s best restaurants were closed night after night for private events. Function halls have been booked months ahead for cocktails or dinners.

But last night, Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, hosted 84,000 people at the biggest party ever in American politics.

It was his way of being inclusive, a recurring theme in his campaign which accuses the Republicans of excluding ordinary people from governance, from prosperity and of reversing everything that America once stood for.

At the Invesco Field here — Obama refers to it as the Mile High stadium, avoiding its corporate name — a sea of white, black, Hispanic, Asian and native Americans were treated to Jennifer Hudson’s rendering of the Star Spangled Banner, Stevie Wonder singing about the future, Sheryl Crow and Michael McDonald. And will.i.am accompanied by John Legend performed Yes We Can, a song he wrote about Obama’s campaign theme.

But at the end of it all came the symphony: Obama’s 44-minute acceptance speech that moved the mass audience alternately to tears, laughter and roars of approval.

Those pundits and talk show hosts who are objective were unanimous as the Democratic National Convention concluded here that Obama’s acceptance speech was one of the best they had heard in their long years of political coverage: a masterpiece. The irony could not have been more stark. Passes for Obama’s 80,000-plus open-air event were snapped up within 24 hours after they opened up for distribution several weeks ago.

His Republican rival, John McCain, today introduced Alaska governor Sarah Palin, 44, as his vice-presidential running mate in front of a crowd of 15,000 people in Dayton, Ohio. Friday is also McCain’s 72nd birthday. Late last night, Ohio Republicans had been planning to bus in supporters from other states to the meeting to avoid embarrassing comparisons with Obama’s massive crowd in Denver.

Only the balloons that are traditionally released from convention hall ceiling were missing at the open-air Invesco Field.

As a substitute, Colorado Democrats who organised the event had fireworks for the audience. And they managed to shoot mountains of confetti over the heads of the crowd. In his speech, Obama referred only implicitly to his race. “I realise that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree,” he said.

Obama tried to allay many of the doubts about him in his acceptance address.

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. I will never hesitate to defend this nation,” he said in answer to the frequent claims that Republicans are better suited to defend America in the post-September 11 environment.

He promised to cut taxes for 95 per cent of all working families.

“Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.”

Obama set the stage for three planned nationally televised debates with McCain that are a staple of every US presidential election.

“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgement, to serve as the next commander in chief, that is a debate I am ready to have,” he said in a reference to his opponent’s famously short temper.