Hillary Speaks

At last, the night's big moment: Hillary Clinton's unity speech, which was meant to convince supporters thinking about bailing to John McCain to throw their support behind Barack Obama despite the Democratic candidates' bitter primary battle. The man in front of me, from the Connecticut delegation, was clearly in her camp, and he, like the others in the vicinity, seemed ready to comply -- yet he remained a bit wistful. When Clinton first appeared on stage, he said to his companion, "So close" -- which she interpreted as meaning that he was thrilled to be so near her at that moment. But he corrected her: "No, she came so close" -- to being the nominee instead of the runner-up.

Don't know if it seemed this way on television, but in the arena, Clinton seemed to step on a lot of the applause lines. As a result, I would have missed significant chunks of her message if I hadn't been able to see her teleprompter across the hall from the podium. Nevertheless, her speech hit all the right notes and was rapturously received. Look below for images taken while she spoke. -- Michael Roberts

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