Denver — Sen. Barack Obama formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Thursday night, promising to restore the economy, end the war in Iraq, and cut taxes for the middle class.

In a speech heard by tens of thousands at Invesco Field here, Mr. Obama said the country was at a “defining moment—a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.”

Among his remarks Mr. Obama said it was “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.”

Mr. Obama also put college squarely in the center of his own American dream, calling it part of the “fundamental promise that has made this country great—a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.”

“Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said, “I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton’s Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

“In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree, who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.”

See our story today for more details about what the Democratic nominee said last night about higher education.