Democratic Convention

Two weeks of party conventions and back-to-back speeches meant to revel in political ideals also highlighted something else: language.

Derek Thompson of The Atlantic writes that unlike past political cycles, current Republicans and Democrats speak with different sets of vocabulary, even as they discuss the same policy issues.

Hillary Clinton can consider her convention a modest success. Gallup reported this week that 45 percent of Americans said they were more likely to vote for her, compared to 41 percent who said less likely.

Historically, that's not a terribly impressive number. But if you compare that to Donald Trump's convention, Clinton and her friends in Philadelphia last week did phenomenally well. Just 36 percent of Americans said the Republican convention made them more likely to vote for Trump, compared to 51 percent who said less likely.

When all was said and done, Team Hillary had to be pretty happy. Their four nights in Philadelphia turned out better than almost anyone expected.

Thursday night featured an orchestrated symphony of praise for Hillary Clinton and a precision-bombing of her opponent, Donald Trump.

On Tuesday as Hillary Clinton's was officially nominated as the first major party female presidential nominee, women (and yes, some men) all over the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia danced, cried, embraced and howled with joy.

The Democratic National Convention erupted into a deafening celebration over a woman being thisclose to the presidency, 240 years after the U.S. was founded and nearly 100 years after women got the right to vote.

No, we weren't just looking at the women. The fashion at the Republican and Democratic conventions gave us clues about everyone — men, women, politicians and celebrities. Don't even get us started on the delegates (really, that's a photo essay of its own).

Editor's note: This has been updated at 1:25 p.m. ET Friday with additional fact-checking information.

Hillary Clinton accepted her party's nomination on Thursday, completing the field for an American political campaign without historical precedent.

Clinton, the first female presidential nominee for a major American party, has now officially become Republican Donald Trump's Democratic rival for the presidency of the United States.

Earlier this week, on the first day of this Democratic National Convention, Ruby Gilliam of Ohio — along with Clarissa Rodriguez of Texas — took the stage, and led the delegates in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The two women are the oldest and youngest delegates at the DNC.

"It's almost like a dream come true," Gilliam tells NPR's Audie Cornish.

"When they called me though and told me though that I was doing the Pledge of Allegiance and there was nobody at home I thought, I'm gonna burst, I'm gonna burst," she recalls.

America's first image of Chelsea Clinton was as a curly-haired preteen girl with braces who shied away from the public stage while her father was president in the 1990s.

More than two decades later, the now 36-year-old mother of two will voluntarily step into the spotlight to introduce her own mother as her family seeks a return to the White House.

The third night of the 2016 Democratic convention scaled several major peaks: President Obama gave, perhaps, the best-written oration of his career. Vice President Joe Biden gave, perhaps, his last national convention address, and his prospective successor, Tim Kaine, gave his first.

Democrats called on Americans to reject what they called the politics of fear and division of the GOP and elect Hillary Clinton during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

The Tuesday night session of the Democratic convention was really three events, each with its own atmosphere and impact, but all contributing to a single theme: The Clintons are back.

Tonight President Obama will take the stage at the Democratic National Convention with one goal: convincing voters to elect Hillary Clinton as his successor.

The stakes are high for the newly minted nominee, but they are arguably even higher for the incumbent president. A Clinton win would mean his policy legacy is kept intact and there's validation of his tenure in the White House.

When Joe Biden takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, there will probably be a part of him that still wonders, "What if?"

But his own White House dreams and reported rivalry with Hillary Clinton will have to be in the rearview mirror in order for him to deliver a home run endorsement, starting on stage and continuing through November.

President Obama likes to say he has run his last campaign. But he's determined to give Hillary Clinton a running start toward her own November election, mindful that much of his legacy depends on her crossing the finish line into the White House.

"I'm ready to pass the baton," Obama told supporters at a joint rally with Clinton in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this month. "I know she can run that race: the race to create good jobs, and better schools, and safer streets, and a safer world."