Chelsea Clinton made a brief appearance and gave an even briefer speech Friday evening at the State Democratic Convention. She said she was at the convention “to give a big Texas-size ’thank you’ to everyone who worked for my mom.” The majority of her speech was a continuation on the pleas for unity theme.
The first night of the Texas Democratic Convention proper opened with the sounds of smooth jazz and closed with calls for party unity. From the invocation on, it became clear that this was more peace talks than it was a political rally and that the speakers were desperately trying to remind everyone that they were one big happy family.
“It’s not about me, it’s about we,” said Boyd Richie, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.
Richie continually stressed the accomplishments of the party over the last two years and tried to bring the rank and file back into the “Big Tent.”
Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were invited to speak at the convention, although neither attended. However, each camp sent a representative.
Clinton sent her daughter Chelsea who, over the last year and a half, has become a widely used spokeswoman with a specialty on health care. Obama’s campaign sent the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, to speak.
Kaine is widely speculated to be on Obama’s short list of vice presidential candidates. His home state of Virginia is also viewed as a key swing state for the Democrats’ fall strategy.
In a six-minute speech, Chelsea Clinton relayed a message that many had been expecting for days. “My mom’s going to make a speech tomorrow giving her support to Obama,” she said. She continued on to say on her mother’s behalf that “she wants to make it clear that we are going to unite our party and win in November.”

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