Tuesday Night

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She nailed it.

Hillary Clinton's speech last night was one of the best I've ever seen her give (and having worked on the campaign trail these past two years, I've seen her give quite a few).

The lines to get into "the Pepsi" last night were immense (see photo to the right) and it took more than an hour just to get through the security perimeter. It was so packed inside the hall, that I actually couldn't get a seat in the California section - I ended up sitting in the North Carolina delegation!

Fire Marshalls sealed the entrances to the hall just before her speech because of the volume of people.

The speech: Clinton hit all of the right notes, she said all of the right things. She was gracious, she was stately. And she emphasized the most important issue of all: the need for Party Unity.

This was Hillary's night, the crowd was waiting for one person and one person only. This was a crowd looking for red meat, something to rally around. Defining McCain as the common enemy was that rallying cry. All of the other speakers pretty much amounted to filler leading up to her speech...with a few exceptions.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland did an admirable job, but the real star of the under card speakers was Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana. Schweitzer was essentially the de facto keynote speaker of the night after former Virginia Governor Mark Warner came up a little flat.

Schweitzer's "everyman" persona and style make him very likable to begin with, and he was exciting and fun. And it marks the first time I've ever seen a crowd get so fired up over a speech that was based on the subject of energy and natural resources...