Hillary Clinton lights up John McCain

Mark Warner's keynote was workmanlike, unmemorable, and fine. Everyone's waiting for Hillary Clinton, so his job was to merely not flub it. Interesting, if Obama had chosen him as vice president the exact same speech would've been charged with electricity.

I think Hillary will really send a jolt of energy through the hall. Hmm, Bill Clinton's in the hall, hugging a black family. Very weird, he's hugging and sitting next to some white lady who looks really unhappy. Like during the primaries, the Clinton bubble has kept them from being aware of reality--they really don't seem to realize that their time as the face of the Democratic Party is not only over, it's also buried.

It'll be obvious after Bill's speech in non-prime time Wednesday night, after which that's pretty much it for the two of them; their influence in an Obama administration will be exactly zero.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana is going nuts up there, wearing his bolo tie--he's the kind of plain-speaking Democrat, brash the convention needs more of. This is a war; let's not play nice.

Now, the Clinton intro video. It's energetic, if a bit hyper. There's a whole section on her laugh--where was this during the primaries?!--the music is all about women. So far, no indication her husand is Bill. Scenes of her and Obama at the end; it's a pretty good production.

Lights come up, applause not crazy, actually. And there's Chelsea. All she says is Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very proud to introduce my hero, and my mother, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Wow, holy orange! In this bright pantsuit; to a sea of Hillary signs, with the name underlined in matching orange. She's stalking about the stage; Michelle Obama in a classic cream outfit next to Joe Biden. Nice ovation for her; that's right, get it all out.

I'll bet a lot of people are tuned in hoping for a catfight. That's great, the more that can hear her message of unity. Crowd is keeping it up, which is interesting, considering the vast majority of these are Obama people.

Proud mother, proud Democrat, proud Senator from New York, proud American, and a proud supporter of Barack Obama. That brings the crowd to its feet, including Michelle and Bill.

The time is now to unite as a single party; that gets everyone up too. This is good, no cute games--just getting right to the point. She's really on tonight; looks good, speaking emphatically. No way, no how, no McCain.

She's picking up the pace a little. This is the Hillary that at Unity, N.H. made me think would make a great partner for Obama. I really think if she wasn't married to Bill, he'd probably have picked her. But the reality is Obama doesn't need the Clinton sideshow weighing him down.

She's totally got the crowd's attention, they're rapt. She thanks all of her supporters. Odd, pays tribute to the two dead Democratic officials. Weird place to insert this. She needs to do a section on why she's voting for Barack Obama; ah, that's who Bill is sitting next to, that's why the woman next to him looked so grim.

Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. Reels off a long list of why she ran for president; and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president. Coming right up on the 11:00 hour, Clintons are late for everything. Her most powerful line, we need leaders once again who can tap into that American optimism.

She starts on Obama's biography, talks about why he ran. Mentions her husband, how we know how to do this, we did it before with President Clinton, we'll do it again with President Obama.

Says she can't wait to watch Obama sign into law a health care plan that covers every American. And we know he'll end the war in Iraq responsibly. Praises Michelle Obama; she'll be a great first lady for America. And we're lucky that Joe Biden will be at Obama's side, a strong leader, a good man. Pragmatic, tough and wise.

Hmm, interesting pivot--McCain is my colleague and my friend, but we don't need four more years of the last eight years. Crowd starts yelling "No" after she goes on a long list of what we don't need four more years of.

She starts mocking him, it's a good moment; big boo when she says he doesn't earn equal pay for equal work. Makes sense he'll be with Bush next week in the Twin Cities, hard to tell them apart. That's a good line.

Talks about the women's rights movement, 88 years ago today women got the right to vote. Says her mom was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for president. Talks about Harriet Tubman. If you hear the dogs, keep going... recites a litany of when to keep going, don't ever stop. That brings the people to their feet, even in our darkest moments we've found the faith to keep going.

She should talk about 9/11 here.... We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare. This is a really good speech. It's adult, strong, and on-message. I wish she'd also said something about McCain being anti-choice. Odd end, God bless you and Godspeed.

Hmm, she seems to be off the stage really quickly. Now the signs that said Hillary have been replaced by signs that say Unity, Brian Williams says on NBC. Jeff Greenfield on CBS says the speech was aimed at getting all the Democrats to vote for Obama, which should be enough. Bob Schieffer found it an effective attack, in response to Katie Couric wondering if she wasn't strong enough; says Obama couldn't have asked for more. ABC's Kate Snow is with the Illionois delegation, kindof an odd choice since those are all Obama people even if it's Hillary's home state.

It was a good speech; it could have been better. But if it were, maybe Hillary would've been the nominee. Ultimately, Clinton can only do so much; Obama's gotta bring the voters home on Thursday, which I think he will.