Analysis: Clinton on the high wire
DENVER -- Barack Obama had a lot riding on Hillary Rodham Clinton's convention speech Tuesday night.
So did Clinton.
In the opening lines of her keenly awaited address, she delivered the sort of full-throated endorsement that the Obama team wanted.
"My friends, it is time to take back the country we love," she declared. "Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win."
The convention hall, so packed that local fire marshals refused to let more people in, erupted in cheers as both Clinton and Obama delegates waved white signs that read simply "Hillary."
"Barack Obama is my candidate," she said, "and he must be our president."
Clinton was headlining the second night of a Democratic gathering that is divided and nervous — divided between the two former rivals for the presidential nomination and nervous that a November victory which once seemed to be a sure thing is now at risk.
The feel-good mood that suffused the Pepsi Center on Monday night — marked by a bittersweet address from the ailing Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and an affectionate tribute to Barack Obama by his wife, Michelle — was replaced with an air that was considerably more charged.
Clinton's ability to persuade her reluctant supporters to unite behind Obama would be a significant boost for him, especially in attracting the older voters, blue-collar workers and Latinos who propelled her presidential campaign. At the moment, only about half of Clinton's primary-season supporters say they are sure to vote for Obama, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll during the weekend found.
"There's a lot of animus there because it was so close," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told USA TODAY before Clinton spoke. He's worried the lingering resentment could hurt Democrats' chances of winning the White House. "There's still that friction."
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