12:11 p.m. ET | President Obama is scheduled to arrive in Charlotte at 2:45 p.m. ET today.
2:36 p.m. ET | Breaking: There will be no mass balloon drop for Obama. The last-minute change of venue means there’s no time to fill the ceiling with balloons, the Associated Press reports. “So organizers are scrambling to come up with another festive way to punctuate the end of the convention.”
4:29 p.m. ET | NewsHour’s political editor Christina Bellantoni is now interviewing Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on our livestream.
4:35 p.m. ET | NewsHour’s political editor Christina Bellantoni is now interviewing Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on our livestream.
Lee: “I don’t get angry. I get discouraged when I see Tea Party Republicans trying to destruct everything Obama has put forth. "
4:37 p.m. ET | Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on our livestream: “It’s going to be close, but I’m confident that the African American community’s going to come out to vote. They know what’s at stake.”
5:07 p.m. ET | Now on the convention floor: Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, first woman to be elected bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church performs the invocation.
5:10 p.m. ET | Now up: gold-medal gymnast Gabby Douglas will perform the pledge of allegiance.
5:23 p.m. ET | Now on stage at the DNC: U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado.
5:28 p.m. ET | “Reproductive freedom means economic freedom,” DeGette said. “The Romney/Ryan ticket would reverse more than a century of long-fought progress for women.”
5:28 p.m. ET | Next up is State Rep. John A. Perez of California, Speaker of the California State Assembly.
5:40 p.m. ET | Now on our livestream: U.S. Rep. Judy Chu of California.
5:55 p.m. ET | On the NewsHour tonight, as the U.S. military carries out plans to end the war in Afghanistan, new challenges arise, especially in training Afghan forces.
5:57 p.m. ET | Auto bailout or auto rescue? On tonight's NewsHour Judy Woodruff talks to congressmen from Michigan and Ohio on the president’s role in saving auto industry jobs.
6:00 p.m. ET | On the NewHour tonight, Gabby Douglas leads the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention.
Mark Shields and David Brooks weigh in with political analysis on the night’s activities and speakers.
Ray Suarez talks to delegates on the convention floor, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus address the convention floor.
6:06 p.m. ET | Andrea Chambliss was one of about 6,000 volunteers who traveled to Charlotte to volunteer for the Obama campaign, Associated Press reports. She spent thousands of dollars on the trip and agreed to put in nine hours of volunteer service. In return, she was promised a ticket to the president's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. But when organizers, wary of thunderstorms, pulled the plug Wednesday on plans for Obama's address Thursday night at the city's open-air NFL stadium, they left about 60,000 ticket-holders in the lurch.