Wife stresses Obama’s American values

Appeals for unity
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean opened the convention at 5 p.m. ET, setting off a larger campaign to salve the wounds of the duel between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

As Obama campaigned Monday in Iowa, his representatives worked with Clinton’s camp on a deal to give her some votes in the roll call for the nomination Wednesday night but then to quickly end the process in a show of acclamation for Obama.

Clinton preached unity at a breakfast for New York Democrats.

As supporters waved “Hillary Made History” signs, she said: “Make no mistake. We are united. We are united for change.

“Of course, we are Democrats, so it may take a while,” she added. “We’re not the fall-in-line party. We are diverse [with] many voices, but make no mistake — we are united.”

Former President Jimmy Carter, the beneficiary of a split between supporters of Republicans Ronald Reagan and President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election, said it was likely that “a lot of supporters of Senator Clinton have not yet made up their minds.” But in an interview with NBC’s Ann Curry, he predicted that “after this convention, you’ll see a massive move by them to support Senator Obama.”

Carter, who said he had recently spoken with former President Bill Clinton, said he expected the Clintons to do everything they could to back the nominee.

“Bill and his wife will be completely committed to Obama,” he said. “I don’t have any doubt about that.”

Still, some hard feelings remained. Pelosi acknowledged that Democrats “had not yet achieved the complete reconciliation that we need.” But Pelosi, who is chairwoman of the convention, told NBC News that the Obama and Clinton forces would unite.

“It doesn’t mean party unanimity. We’ve never had that,” she said after she addressed the convention. But “we have come here to be unified, focus, clarified. We are confident of victory.”

Obama to play it cool
Obama will close the convention Thursday night when the action shifts to Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, where he will give his speech accepting the nomination from the 50-yard line.

Speaking to reporters Monday in Moline, Ill., Obama said he planned to tone down his oratory.

“I’m not aiming for a lot of high rhetoric,” he said. “I’m much more concerned with communicating how I intend to help middle-class families live their lives.”

Acknowledging that his speeches had been a key to his rapid rise in politics, Obama said it was now important to prove that there was substance behind the style.

“People know that I can give the kind of speech that I gave four years ago” at the 2004 convention, he said. “That’s not the question on voters’ mind. I think they’re much more interested in what am I going to do to help them in their lives. And so, in that sense, this is going to be a more workmanlike speech.”

McCain wasn’t disappearing from the campaign trail entirely. He was using an appearance Monday on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and newspaper interviews to stay in touch with voters. And there was continued interest in his choice of a running mate.

Athena Jones, Mike Memoli and Domenico Montanaro of NBC News; Mark Schrager of NBC affiliate KUSA in Denver; and Alex Johnson of msnbc.com contributed to this report.

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