Hillary Clinton praises Barack Obama at Democratic convention in Denver and
calls for democrats to unite behind Obama.

DENVER COLORADO, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 26, 2008) POOL-
  Hillary Clinton delivered a ringing call for Democratic Party
unity on Tuesday (August 26), promising to work for Barack Obama and
challenging her supporters to bury their grudges and rally behind his White
House bid. 
    "Whether you voted for me or voted for Barack, the time is now to
unite as a single party with a single purpose," said Clinton in a speech
Democrats hope will end a lingering party rift left over from their bitter
nominating fight. 
    Clinton, a New York senator, lavishly praised Obama and said Democrats
could not sit on the sidelines and watch Republican presidential candidate
John McCain take the White House. 
    "No way, no how, no McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate and he
must be our president," Clinton told a roaring crowd waving a sea of
white "Hillary" signs. 
    Clinton used her highly anticipated turn in the spotlight to say
Democrats must unite to help the first-term Illinois senator beat McCain in
the November 4, 2008 election and get a Democrat in the White House who can
begin to turn around the struggling U.S. economy. 
    "When Barack Obama is in the White House, he'll revitalize our
economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges
of our time," Clinton said.
    Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, watched from the balcony.

    Clinton also offered plenty of criticism of McCain, an Arizona senator
who she called "my colleague and my friend." 
    "We don't need four more years of the last eight years," she
said, linking McCain to the policies of Republican President George W. Bush.

    "John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain
doesn't think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis.
John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks
it's okay when women don't earn equal pay for equal work," Clinton said.

    "With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and
John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days
they're awfully hard to tell apart." 
    The second day of the convention focused on economic themes and
speakers praised Obama's plans to aid lower- and middle-class voters suffering
in a faltering U.S. economy, which polls show is the top issue in the final
months of Bush's term. 
    Following her bruising primary election defeat by Obama, Clinton's
remarks were closely watched to gauge her level of enthusiasm for the
presumptive nominee.  But Clinton quelled any doubts, saying that Obama stood
for many of the same things she ran for president to accomplish, including
health care coverage for 47 million uninsured Americans, an improved education
system and fiscal sanity in Washington.
    Clinton is expected on Wednesday to release her delegates from their
pledge of allegiance so they may back Obama. Still, her name will be placed in
nomination, but it is expected that, under the terms of an agreement
negotiated by the two camps, the ceremonious roll-call of states will be
truncated and Obama will be nominated by acclamation.
    Some Clinton loyalists, however, are not giving up.  Gloria Allred, the
civil right attorney and a delegate from California delegate,  has initiated a
petition to ensure a state by state ballot count.
    While it is a primary symbolic exercise, Allred and others insist that
failing to initiate a challenge will only alienate Clinton supporters further.

    "They've been degrading her and I don't appreciate someone
degrading a lady," said Wesley Clark, a Clinton supporter in the
California delegation.  Clark noted that in 2004, supporters of Democrat
Howard Dean were permitted to fight for their candidate on the convention
floor -- but this year that privilege is not fully accorded to Clinton.
    "He was allowed to be nominated on the floor, and Hillary has I
don't know how many delegates and she had to fight  be nominated on the
floor," Clark said. 
    Several Obama delegates expressed exasperation with the attention paid
to Clinton.
    When Allred unfurled a "Hillary for President" banner, Obama
delegates surrounding her stomped their feet and chanted, "Obama! Obama! 
Women for Obama!"
   Despite the tension among delegates, Kweisi Mfume, the civil rights
leader and a former member of Congress, said he was hopeful about the
Democrats' ability to unite.