Hillary urges supporters to back Obama

The New York senator lavished her backing on one-time rival Obama and attacked Republican McCain.

Hillary Clinton lavished her powerful and essential backing on the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama yesterday and urged her supporters to join her in backing her one-time rival.

She said victory over Republican John McCain "is a fight for the future and a fight we must win together." The former first lady skewered Mr McCain and drew thunderous applause yesterday as she coined what could become the most powerful political slogan of the coming campaign. "No way, no how, no McCain."

Mrs Clinton's speech will probably be the most closely scrutinised of the Democratic National Convention, a gathering that opened with great drama - full of speculation about how full-throated her support for Mr Obama would be and whether the party could heal the divisions from the hard-fought primary campaign. In the end, Mr Clinton held back nothing in an inspired address that also served to launch whatever lies ahead in her political career. "We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare," said the New York senator, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Mr Obama's own.

She also urged her loyal supporters to remember who was most important in this campaign. "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?" she asked. Mrs Clinton urged them instead to remember marines who have served their country, single mothers, families barely getting by on minimum wage and other struggling Americans. "You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership," Mrs Clinton told the delegates.

The packed convention floor became a sea of white "Hillary" signs as the New York senator, Mr Obama's fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses, strode to the podium for her prime-time speech after being introduced by her daughter, Chelsea. The signs were soon replaced by others that read simply, "Unity." Calling Mr McCain, a four-term Arizona senator, "my colleague and my friend," Mrs Clinton proceeded to tear into him as a voice of the past and little more than a clone of the deeply unpopular US president George W Bush.

"We don't need four more years of the last eight years, more economic stagnation, more war and less diplomacy," said the New York senator, dressed out in a trademark pumpkin-coloured pant suit. And she congratulated herself and her campaign for bringing to the national consciousness the myriad of issues important to all Americans, women in particular. "To my supporters, to my champions, to my sisterhood of the travelling pantsuits, from the bottom of my heart, thank you," Mrs Clinton said. "Together we made history."

Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, watched the speech and initial television cutaways showed the woman who could be the next first lady looking a bit uneasy before Mrs Clinton hit her stride, calling out "Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president." Mrs Clinton later gave a special nod to Michelle Obama, calling her a "terrific partner" to her husband. "Anyone who saw Michelle's speech last night knows she will be a great first lady for America," Mrs Clinton added.

By the end of the address, Michelle Obama was smiling broadly and applauding generously as it became clear that her husband's bitter primary adversary had climbed aboard his campaign train. Former US president, Bill Clinton, who speaks tonight, beamed as his wife praised his eight years in the White House that saw a period of significant economic stability and growth. "As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton. If we do our part, we'll do it again with President Obama."

Mrs Clinton used easy going but stinging language against Mr McCain and Mr Bush. At one point, she declared it was not surprising that they would be together next week at the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, known as the Twin Cities, "because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart." During the convention, the McCain campaign has sought to exploit divisions within Democratic ranks by running television commercials that highlighted critical comments Mrs Clinton made about Mr Obama's lack of experience during the primary campaign.

Mrs Clinton had been the prohibitive favourite for the nomination when she launched her campaign last year, seeking to become the first female president. But she fell behind Mr Obama after the lead-off Iowa caucuses in January, and he now is poised to become the first black nominee of a major US party. A string of Democratic notables who served as Mrs Clinton's warm-up acts ripped into Mr McCain as indifferent to the working class and cosy with big oil companies. "If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous," New York Governor David Paterson said of the Republican presidential candidate.

Ohio Govenor Ted Strickland said, "It's time to bring our jobs back and bring our troops home." Mr Obama will deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow night at a football stadium in Denver. An estimated 75,000 tickets have been distributed for the event, meant to stir additional comparisons with John F Kennedy's appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960. The Republican National Convention meets next week to nominate Mr McCain and his still-unnamed running mate. That will set the stage for a final sprint to election day on Nov 4 2008 in a race that is remarkably close. * AP