Clinton buries the hatchet and says: Barack is our man

Hillary Clinton emphatically gave her support to Barack Obama and embraced his bid for the American presidency.

After weeks of speculation about what she would say, the former First Lady finally buried the hatchet with the man who ended her White House dream.

Mrs Clinton delivered a ringing endorsement of her once bitter rival at the Democratic Party convention last night.

In her opening words of one of the most eagerly anticipated speeches of the event, she immediately called for unity among party members.

"I am a proud mother, proud to be a Democrat, proud to be an American and a proud supporter of Barack Obama," she said.

Before she had even finished her words, the 20,000-strong crowd inside Denver's Pepsi Stadium erupted with applause and stood to cheer.

To emphasise her total support for Mr Obama, she said: "My friends, it is time to take back the country we love and whether you voted for me or whether you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president."

Her fulsome support was music to the ears of Democratic Party chiefs.

They had feared anything less than 100 per cent backing for Mr Obama from Mrs Clinton could seriously derail his White House bid.

Polls have shown that many of her supporters are reluctant to embrace the Illinois Senator as their party's candidate.

Some have said they would rather vote for Republican John McCain than back Mr Obama after his victory in one of the most hard fought and bitter primary campaigns in American election history.

Mrs Clinton was introduced to the crowd by her daughter Chelsea last night.

The packed convention f loor became a sea of white "Hillary" signs as the New York senator strode to the podium, and thousands of Democrats cheered as she took a pre-speech sip of water.

The former First Lady then had to delay her speech for a five-minute standing ovation.

As the crowd settled, Mrs Clinton, wearing an orange trouser suit, directed her speech to the 18million people who voted for her in the failed presidential bid.

She told them every vote now counted and they must be used to push the Republicans out of office. "We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win," she said.

"I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people."

"And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership," she said. "No way. No how. No McCain."

In an appeal to her most loyal supporters to switch their support to Mr Obama, she mentioned some of the people who had touched her most while on the campaign trail.

She said: "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids?

"Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?"

The sea of Hillary signs, which had the word "unite" on the reverse side, was waved furiously by her enthusiastic supporters.

For the speech on the second day of the convention Michelle Obama sat next to her husband's vice-presidential running mate Joe Biden and joined in the applause.

Mr Obama watched the speech from Billings in Montana at the home of Democratic Party volunteers Eran and Carlee Thompson.

His staff said Mrs Clinton had sent him a draft of her speech but he was not involved in its content.

Former president Bill Clinton was also in the audience but seated away from Mrs Obama. The pair reportedly do not like each other and it was revealed that he will be absent tomorrow when Mr Obama delivers his acceptance speech.

Political analysts described Mrs Clinton's speech as hugely important for the Democratic Party and said her endorsement of Mr Obama could not have been any more fulsome.

She delivered her speech on the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920 that gave women the right to vote.