Hillary Clinton, in a direct appeal to her supporters to set aside hurt feelings and back her former opponent, told the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday that “Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.”  The New York senator used her...

...headlining address in Denver to call for party unity after her tense primary fight against Obama. She attempted to leave no doubt that she is 100 percent behind the presumptive nominee.

“We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare,” the former first lady said at the close of the speech.

It was for her campaign a dramatic moment of closure. The crowd, waving signs emblazoned with “Unity” and both Democratic candidates’ names, rose to its feet as flashbulbs fired at the end of the address.

Clinton urged Democrats to back Obama for the sake of health care, the economy and all issues Democrats hold dear.

“It is time to take back the country we love,” Clinton said, declaring herself a “proud supporter of Barack Obama” within minutes of walking on stage. “And whether you voted for me or you 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 afford to sit on the sidelines,” she said. “No way, no how. No McCain.”

The line drew applause from Obama, who was watching from Billings, Mont.

The speech was her last big opportunity to smooth over tensions from the bitter Democratic primary before Obama is formally nominated Wednesday.

Both camps have been negotiating to arrange for a roll-call vote that would acknowledge Clinton’s historic accomplishment while preventing any kind of embarrassing floor demonstration.

But Obama’s campaign apparently has taken over those arrangements, and her delegates are still unsure what exactly they should do on Wednesday.

Clinton, dressed in a pumpkin-colored pantsuit, asked her backers Tuesday to ask themselves why they supported her in the first place.

“Were you in it just for me?” she queried. Or “were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?”

She walked on stage after a video tribute played showing fast-paced clips from her primary campaign earlier this year. Daughter Chelsea introduced her and greeted her on stage, while a tearful Bill Clinton looked on, mouthing, “I love you.”

Hillary Clinton, once the unrivaled front-runner for the Democratic nomination, saw her candidacy steadily unravel after Obama pulled a first-place finish in the lead-off Iowa caucuses and Clinton placed third. Clinton’s remaining campaign was marked by a series of comebacks, but they were not enough to overtake Obama in the delegate count.

The closeness of the race, coupled with infighting over how to count the primaries in Michigan and Florida — which voted for Clinton but were initially discounted for violating party rules — led to fears of a divided party after Obama clinched the nomination June 3.

She’s had a couple chances to soothe hurt feelings since then — first when she conceded the race, then when she appeared with him afterward in Unity, N.H. But while Clinton enthusiastically threw her support behind the Illinois senator, some of her supporters were reluctant to follow her lead.

Polls show a significant number of Clinton backers are still unsure whom they will support in the November election, and John McCain has been trying to court those voters actively.

In recent days, his campaign has exploited those tensions by running ads that feature Clinton’s critical words on Obama from the primary. He also ran an ad featuring a former Clinton delegate who’s now backing the Republican candidate, and another criticizing Obama for picking Delaware Sen. Joe Biden over Clinton.

The ads helped drive the storyline of a party divided — a storyline that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and other party leaders have battled persistently.

Clinton spoke Tuesday after keynote speaker Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, though her speech drew far more attention.

Warner’s was a forward-looking address that called on government to tap into the innovation and resolve of the America people to confront global challenges.

“The race for the future will be won when old partisanship gives way to new ideas. When we put solutions over stalemates, and when hope replaces fear,” he said.

Source:  ap