Obama, standing atop a blue stage surrounded by flashing cameras and signs calling for change, attacked McCain and the Bush administration early in his speech.

“More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, and tuition that’s beyond your reach,” he said. “These challenges are not all of government’s making.

“But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.”

After lamenting the oil crisis, a problem that he said McCain hasn’t adequately responded to during his time in the Senate, Obama made a bold proclamation.

“For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” he said.

Obama hit on a wide range of issues that he has been challenged on, ranging from national security to taxes to how he would aid middle-class families. He promised to go through the federal budget line by line to find the funding for his policies, “eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.”

To end his landmark address in front of an audience that lined up hours before his prime-time speech, Obama called for continued movement forward in the face of eight years under the Bush administration.

“America, we cannot turn back,” he said. “We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future.

“Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.”

History in Denver

Thursday’s speech culminates a surprising four-year ascension from obscurity, when Obama delivered a sterling keynote speech at the 2004 DNC, to the brink of the country’s most prominent position for the Democratic presidential nominee.

“His journey from that moment to now has taken him to every corner of the world,” said Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Obama’s home state. “He has brought a message of unity and change. We know Americans hunger for change.”

Obama accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination after receiving more than 1,000 votes from delegates and acceptance from a call of acclimation that made him the first black presidential nominee.

As a matter of fitting coincidence, his acceptance speech Thursday landed 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have A Dream” speech — a defining moment of the civil rights movement.

“As a participant in the civil rights movement, I can tell you the road to victory will not be easy,” said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the lone surviving speaker from the March on Washington in 1963. “This night is not a beginning. It is not even the end. It is the continuation of a struggle that began centuries ago.”

The junior Illinois senator became the third presidential nominee, joining much-lauded presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, to deliver his acceptance speech outdoors.

In 1960, Kennedy stood at a podium in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, offering a message of change similar to Obama’s in the form of a New Frontier.

“For us as Democrats, it is really an incredibly proud moment to have this historic evening,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a state delegate, said of Obama’s outdoor spectacle. “I think that what’s really wonderful about it is the symbolism and the reality of having it at Invesco Field, where we are inviting all of America and as many folks from the bottom-up that can participate.”

Campaigning in Michigan

Obama and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., are now expected to trek through Michigan multiple times before November’s general election — beginning with appearances in Battle Creek and Detroit this weekend.

Michigan will be one of about a dozen battleground states that will decide the election. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Michigan “a tough state” for Democrats, especially if Mitt Romney, who won the state’s Republican primary and is the son of a former Michigan governor, becomes McCain’s running mate.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said Obama has a large base of voters he can still convince to cast votes for him, both in Michigan and throughout the country.

“They’re not focused on politics yet, and that won’t happen until after Labor Day as we get closer to November,” Brewer said. “General election voters are just starting to get engaged.”

Obama stopped in Lansing earlier this month to unveil a comprehensive energy plan, a topic that the city’s mayor, Virg Bernero, wants addressed in the next two months.

“For us and our economy, the whole green revolution and the transition of the economy to green-powered jobs would be phenomenal,” said Bernero, a first-time delegate.

He added that Obama has distanced himself more from oil companies and investigated alternative energy more than McCain.

Throughout the week, Democrats in Denver have lampooned the Bush administration and pushed Obama’s message of economic change that would benefit Michigan.

“There’s a fresh breeze blowing through our country, and that’s the craving for change,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a state delegate. “It’s about change here at home, to get a partner in the White House who cares about the well-being — economically, with health care and education — of average Americans.”

College student focus

Obama’s campaign has appealed to youth voters on a larger scale than McCain’s with anti-war messages and promising a younger voice in office.

“For me, for you, for all college students out there, this is the first time we could really have change in this country,” said Lauren Wolfe, a University of Detroit-Mercy law student who is a Michigan delegate and president of the College Democrats of America. “I think that in and of itself is inspiring — the fact that there’s someone who is so young and who we can identify with and really shares a story that is similar to many young Americans today.

Obama has spoken about the trials of college students, particularly in affording higher education, but the topic hasn’t been hot on the campaign trail.

MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson said university funding, and the resulting impact on tuition, will remain on the backburner during this year’s campaign.

“It’s fine because we’ve got to get the election and we’ve got to pick issues that we know we can move people to win,” said Ferguson, a Michigan delegate and Democratic National Committee member.

Ferguson said Obama should, if elected, place a priority on higher education by using the “bully pulpit,” even though the issue has been lightly addressed.

“I feel like this has been a long time coming. It looks like the party’s finally starting to unite. I think Barack Obama is the right person to lead our country in the right direction,” said political science and pre-law senior Adrian Walker who was in East Lansing Thursday. “He comes from multiple backgrounds, and because of that, I think he represents the majority of the U.S. More people can relate to him, because they see themselves in him. He seems different from most politicians. I want to hear his take on what he plans to do for Michigan’s economy, and how he plans to aid Michigan in the move towards going green.”

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Obama would build upon recent work by Democrats to lower interest rates on student loans and raise the number of Pell Grants awarded.

“He’s going to be focused much more aggressively on making sure everybody can afford college,” said Stabenow, a Michigan delegate and Democratic National Committee member.

Obama addressed college issues early and often Thursday, promising assistance to families that cannot afford higher education.

“Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy,” Obama said. “We will keep our promise to every young American — if you commit to serving your community or our country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.”