It's Hillary Day in the Mile High City - maybe start out the day with a delicious Hillary soufflé - warm, tasty, complex and knocked flat by an amateur slamming the oven door...  Sadly, she was a victim of her own success - the American electorate is just fascinated with truly new type candidates - whether they win (as husband Bill did) or not (as Howard Dean didn't).  Hillary ran the smart campaign and was certainly well-prepared, but she wasn't the shiny new Obama in the window, and by the time she got the attention back on the issues it was just too late. She did turn Obama from a novelty act into a genuine candidate, though - forcing him to define and then refine his platitudes into policies. After all," hope"  without "action" is "wishing". If Obama is elected, he owes it in no small part to Hillary.

Which does explain Obama's exceptional accommodation of Hillary and her minions at the convention. If Hillary was the harpy that the extreme right would have you believe, the a roll call vote would be the last thing Obama would want. In that Machiavellian scheme, she would have been behind the scenes twisting super-delegate arms in that delightful Clinton way, and then "Oops! What do you mean I have more votes?" and in a Sally Field moment of "They really like me!" she snatches victory from the jaws of defeat - and of course, the Dems would go down in flames. The electorate may buy going negative, and may even enjoy it at times, but they don't reward cheaters... Kudos to Obama for being the grown-up in the room.

Women's issues and forums have dominated the day, and diversity was on display with today's theme of "Renewing America's Promise". Featured speakers (though not necessarily broadcast...) highlights were Governor David Paterson of NY, who took over for an otherwise occupied Eliot Spitzer earlier this year. He was an early speaker for the day and managed to energize the delegates doing the early shift. Dennis Kucinich (that strange little man...) revved up a half full Pepsi Center a bit later in the afternoon with a preacher-style riff and a call to "Wake Up America!" (or maybe it was a commercial for  Diet Pepsi Max, minus the music and the head-bob...). Steny Hoyer invoked Reagan with the "Are you better now than you were four years ago?" In a nation where people are mostly confused about the economy, you might want to avoid that question. You might not get the answer you were expecting. There was also an endorsement from Jim Whitaker - the Republican mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska. This was another "huh?" moment as he seemed to think Obama was all for importing Alaskan oil and natural gas. Maybe he is...

Once the "not Ready for Prime Time " politicians finished the all star team took the stage. It was amazingly feel-good for a Democratic Convention. Horatio Alger was everyone's story - land of opportunity , loving family, standing on the shoulders of those who came before, seizing the future.  American exceptionalism - long at home in the Republican Party, has been discovered by the Democratic Party gathered in Denver. And there was an amazing lack of whining. The jabs that were taken at Bush were there, fair and rare. There was an obvious effort to keep everything on a positive note. Stepping ably into Obama's shoes from 4 years ago Mark Warner made a compelling Keynote address with very nearly not a bit of partisan rancor - the theme was to get beyond partisanship (the Founding Principal of the Thomas Paine Project) and get the work of the people done.  Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts, waxed positively on his one generation step from poverty to prosperity and is worth listening to in full. Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana,  warmed up the crowd for the star - and then it was Hillary's turn.

Hillary spoke at length - a bit less than an hour - about her campaign, her ideals and her hopes for America. It was a stump speech, a looking-back speech and a State-of-the-Union address. It was not a concession speech.  With her options preserved for the future, she pointed out to her followers that their choice was between Senator McCain and Senator Obama, and they should join her in helping to get Obama elected.  It may have been her finest speech to date. She called for a President Obama, and made it clear that she would be there working with him on behalf of those who supported her. It was a very graceful tightrope walk and she pulled it off to a cheering crowd.

For two days the DNC has managed to promote the one quality it lacked in 2004 (and 2000) - a connectedness with voters.  It's been a lovefest so far, but once the love fades, there's only the issues to be addressed. The Wednesday theme - securing America's future, hopes to deliver a main course of policy discussion, now that dessert has been served first. It would be wise to address the voters on specific plans being laid out to address this country's needs and concerns. We all know the challenges - we need the answers that the Democrats seek to provide and compare them with the answers the Republicans will be supplying next week in St. Paul. Featured speakers are former President Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden.

Most speeches are available as video at demconvention.com - It's always good to listen for yourself.

RLB

RLB