Wednesday was Roll Call day, the day of the official nominating process and the reason we all are here. By 3 p.m., the Pepsi Center was already a bee hive of activity.

It was so exciting to witness democracy unfold in front of us. We heard the news that earlier in the day: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., had released her delegates.

By Democratic National Convention rules, a delegate is pledged to vote for his or her candidate during the first round of voting. When the delegates are released, they are allowed to cast their vote however their candidate sees fit.

When the roll call came to “the great state of California,” Sen. Barbara Boxer offered opening remarks about our diverse delegation. California passed on voting for the time being, caused some confusion in the delegation, as many of us are new to the process. Boxer then went around to the delegates to explain what happened. California has a total of 441 delegates.

In order for the state to cast its vote at that time, all the votes must be in. We were short because some delegates had to rush back to California to work on the overdue state budget.

Of the votes that were cast, 273 were for Sen. Barack Obama and 166 for Clinton. How this could be, since Clinton won California by about 9 percent? The answer is because Clinton released her delegates.

When the roll call came to New York, Clinton reported that all the Empire State’s votes went to Obama. This put Obama over the top. Sen. Barack Obama had officially become the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States of America. We cheered, we cried, we hugged. It had finally happened!

Melissa Etheridge came out a short time later and did a great medley of “These Times They Are a Changing", “Born in the USA” (Bruce and Melissa know that we all know the true meaning of the song ... unlike the Reagan campaign) and “God Bless America.”

This was so emotional that a huge guy sitting behind me  — the kind of guy who looked like he wouldn’t cry at anything — had tears were streaming down his face.

President Bill Clinton rocked the house almost as much as Hillary did the night before. During Bill’s speech, CNN zoomed in on me cheering while proudly waving the American flag. I got calls and voicemails from friends.

We then got to the nomination process of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., for vice-president. We all seconded the nomination. Who knew Robert’s Rules of Orders could be this much fun?