Obama names Clinton as convention headline speaker

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama, still trying to douse embers of resentment among backers of his defeated primary rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, said the New York senator will have top billing on the second night of the Democratic convention later this month in Denver.
     
Obam's campaign called the former first lady, who nearly upended Obama's bid for the nomination in an extended and often bitter primary season, "a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today."
     
She will speak on Tuesday, Aug 26 - the 88th anniversary of US women's right to vote.
     
There still was no word on whether Clinton would seek a roll call vote for her candidacy as a means of allowing her large bloc of delegates to express a "cathartic" expression of support before falling in line behind Obama.
     
Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, who has offered only tepid support for Obama, was not listed in the campaign's news release, although it has said he would speak on the third night of the convention.
     
The headliner on that night, the campaign said on Sunday, would be Obama's as yet unannounced vice presidential selection.
     
Obama is expected to become the party's first black presidential nominee on the fourth and final night as the convention moves from the indoor Pepsi Arena to a bigger venue at Invesco Field at Denver's Mile High stadium. That night is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
     
Obama, who is on vacation visiting his grandmother in his birth state of Hawaii, and Republican opponent John McCain were taking the day off Sunday from a campaign that has grown increasingly negative.