Night two at the Democratic national convention: what we learned

Delegates cheer and hold up ‘history’ placards as Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee of a major party. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

Thus finishes the second day of the Democratic national convention. Here’s what happened:

• The Democratic party nominated Hillary Clinton for president. Bernie Sanders played a prominent role, stepping in at the end of a roll call vote of states to ask for nomination by unanimous acclamation.
• While some Sanders backers left the hall, the room bore only traces of the painfully audible Clinton v Sanders split that defined day one.
• With the nomination official, the party and the campaign embraced Clinton’s historic stature as the first female presidential nominee from a major party and possibly first female president.
• The foregrounding of the here-comes-the-first-woman-president narrative represented a reversal from Clinton’s 2008 primary run, when she faced an equally historic opponent.
• The narrative culminated with a slideshow of US presidents, ending with an impressive animation of shattering glass – and there, suddenly, was Clinton, addressing the convention by video.

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• The crowd really enjoyed all of the aforementioned.
• Clinton said, in part: “And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say: I may become the first woman president but one of you is next.”
  
• Former president Bill Clinton delivered a keynote speech in which he told the story of falling in love with Hillary Clinton and how amazed he was at her industriousness and commitment to improving other people’s lives.
• Bill Clinton, seeking to turn the Republican argument that Hillary has been around too long lead the country in a new direction, branded her “the change-maker”.
  

Bill Clinton at Democratic convention tells story of meeting Hillary

• Sanders’ brother, Larry Sanders, appeared with the Democrats Abroad delegation and tearfully said their parents would have been proud of Sanders’ accomplishment.

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• Speakers from former secretary of state Madeleine Albright to Girls star Lena Dunham to Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards emphasized the role that female voters could play in electing president Hillary Clinton.
  
• The Republicans released a statement that said in part: “Tonight Democrats formally nominated the most scandal-plagued and disliked candidate in the history of their party.”