With 75,000 people watching in Denver, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, accepted his party’s nomination Thursday evening and made history.

In Chattanooga, smaller groups of supporters gathered to witness his speech, and rally local Democrats for the remaining 66-day general election campaign.

More than 20 such parties were held across the area, said John Bailes, Chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

“There’s a difference in the level of excitement compared to 2004,” Mr. Bailes said. “Even though Obama is a Midwesterner, he grabbed more votes in the Hamilton County primary than any other candidate in the primary. There’s an extreme excitement that we didn’t see back then.”

Staff Photo by Meghan Brown Local Democrats gather at Blue Water Grille to watch Sen. Barack Obama accept his party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo., on Thursday.

Sen. Obama promised an end to the “broken politics in Washington and the failed presidency of George W. Bush” in his Denver acceptance speech Thursday night as he embarked on the final lap of his bid to become the nation’s first black president.

He vowed to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America’s dependence on Mideast oil within a decade.

Obama belittled his Republican campaign rival, Sen. John McCain, by linking him to Bush.

“John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time,” he said. “Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.”

At Chattanooga’s Bluewater Grille, Democrats toasted Sen. Obama’s nomination, while a few miles north at Warren Chapel AME Church, an event organized through the political Web site www.MoveOn.org attracted a handful of supporters, who were also there to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I think it’s a great night and a great opportunity ... to see history be made,” said Dr. Terence Mayes, Warren Chapel’s pastor. “It’s a great feeling for us.”

On the door leading to the Warren Chapel gathering, a poster showed Sen. Obama in a barber’s chair.

Inside, red-white-and-blue posters dangled from the ceiling as the smell of barbecue hung in the air. Dr. Mayes said he was sending home voter registration forms in the church programs this Sunday.

At Bluewater, Joseph and Carole Blass, talked over a pre-acceptance performance by singer John Legend.

“His speech is going to inspire people, like JFK did,” Mrs. Blass said. “

Delegates react

Tennessee and Georgia delegates said they will return from the national convention energized over their party’s prospects, never mind polls that show Republican John McCain slightly ahead nationally.

“It’s been an incredible four days in Denver,” said Gray Sasser, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. “There’s been a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm over the fact that we’ve made history by nominating the first black (presidential) candidate.”

Now, what Sen. Obama and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, D-Del., have to do, Mr. Sasser said, is to define their policies and explain their platform to the American people.

“We’ll need to have a continued focus, now, on some specifics and their plans to improve the lives of middle-class Americans,” Mr. Sasser said. “We’ll need more detailed discussions on how to deal with runaway energy prices, tax cuts for the middle class and foreign policy.”

Republicans, who begin their convention in Minneapolis on Monday, say the Obama campaign has been long on rhetoric but short on those details.

Ben Fry, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, said Sen. Obama has yet to convince voters that he has the experience to be commander in chief.

“Next week, Americans will hear from John McCain, an experienced leader who is ready to assume the mantle of leadership,” Mr. Fry said. “I think the biggest difference will be on the question of experience and preparedness.”

Democrats rebuffed the Republican criticisms and said they are unified in their mission to elect Sen. Obama.

They praised Sen. Obama as the only candidate who can effect change in Congress and pointed out the historic nature of their primary as evidence the Democratic Party is leading the country in a progressive direction.

“The delegates in their 60s and 70s, who really see historical significance of this primary, where the top two candidates were a woman (Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.) and an African American, there were several misty eyes throughout the week,” said first-time conventioneer Charles Brock, 24, a delegate from Dalton, Ga.

The Associated Press contributed to the story.