Analysis: Denver seems like the Clinton Convention

Rarely in the history of American political conventions has the losing side received so much time and attention as this week in Denver.

Barack Obama has been forced, by the clout Hillary Rodham Clinton showed in their primary battle and his need for her voters in his race against Republican John McCain, to allow the gathering of Democrats to look a lot like the Clinton Convention.

The first day, Monday, was dominated by daylong dealmaking between the Clinton and Obama camps over ground rules for the nominating roll call.

The second day's highlight was Clinton's address. Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, designated the official convention keynote speaker, was just a footnote in television and newspaper reports. By contrast, among the most replayed shots of the night was of a still-fuming Bill Clinton, tightlipped and teary, watching his wife from a Pepsi Center skybox.

Then came Wednesday, day three of four, when the former president himself spoke. He garnered as much or more attention than what was supposed to be the evening's marquee event, the speech from vice presidential nominee Joe Biden.

As the evening's final speaker, Biden held the so-called prime-time slot. Yet, in Eastern and Central time zones, Biden wound up on TV after many folk's bedtimes and it was Bill Clinton people saw, being cheered so roundly that he had to plead "Please stop ... Please sit" to be heard.

"I love this," the former president said as delegates cheered and cheered for him through a speech that, characteristically, went on longer than it was meant to.

Another surprisingly Clinton-focused event was Wednesday's roll call vote. It climaxed with Obama's acclamation as the Democratic candidate for president — but only after Clinton amassed hundreds of still-diehard delegates and requested the process be shut down to make the night officially Obama's.

Meanwhile, in interviews prominent Clintonites dumped on Team Obama's convention strategy. James Carville carped that the party's message is missing in action in Denver. Paul Begala ridiculed Warner's plan to talk "post-partisan."

It was easy to lose sight of what Bill and Hillary Clinton said from the podium. Their message — forcefully, graciously and unequivocally delivered by both, whatever their private feelings might be: Put the past in the past, get behind Obama and don't let McCain win.

Obama aides insist that by Friday, in the glow of Obama's speech before tens of thousands at a Denver football stadium and history-making ascendance as the nation's first black major-party nominee, they will have accomplished their goal and erased talk of the Clinton v. Obama story line. They say it wasn't a mistake to give the Clintons major roles that spread out over half the convention's four nights.

They had little choice. Clinton won 18 million votes in the bitterly fought primary races and only barely lost the nomination to Obama. The fear that those voters might stay home in November or even switch to McCain gave Clinton considerable leverage and she used it. For instance, Obama's people wanted Bill Clinton to introduce his wife, thereby containing the two Clintons to one night. It didn't happen.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, said the Obama camp gets "an A-plus" for letting Clinton folks "exercise our emotions a little bit."

"It's sort of a smart thing because I think the Clinton delegations are going to leave Denver with a high regard for the Obama forces," he said.

What Obama risked by giving Clinton so much time was losing precious minutes from a convention otherwise designed to convince voters that he's qualified as commander in chief and understands their everyday problems.

There are risks for Clinton too. If Obama loses this year, she is all but certain to make another run at the White House in four years and thus needs to keep her support alive. And to win over Obama's backers.

Hillary Clinton stalwarts see an opportunity for her to emerge from this convention stronger than she came in. Major donors, including many who have been out of touch for a while, are promising to provide whatever she needs to stay viable.

But it's delicate. For if Clinton is seen as fanning her own flames too much, she could get a big share of the blame for any Obama failure. And then her 2012 chances would be severely diminished.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Jennifer Loven covers the White House for The Associated Press. Nedra Pickler, who writes on politics for the AP, contributed to this report from Denver.

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