Politics

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ― Backers of presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama found themselves somewhere between delight and disbelief Tuesday night, ecstatic to watch him cross a finish line that once seemed so far off.
  
A roar filled the Xcel Energy Center as Obama proclaimed himself the party's nominee in the same venue where Republican rival John McCain will collect his party's backing in three months. The St. Paul fire marshal estimated the arena crowd at 17,000 and said 15,000 never made it through the doors but had the chance to watch it on large-screen TV on the building's exterior.
  
Gerald Tate, 30, was among those grasping for words to describe his emotions.
  
With Obama's image covering a T-shirt on his tall frame, Tate thought back to the wintry start of the presidential campaign and marveled at how far it had come.
  
"It was something you dreamed would happen," Tate said. "But I really didn't think it would happen. He was going up against THE Democratic establishment."
  
Polly Carden was downright giddy.
  
"This man is going to be the next president. I can't wait!" Carden, 25, said after standing in line for hours to get into the arena.
  
"This person makes me feel about America how I always wanted to feel about America," Carden said. "He's the only candidate I have ever been to a rally for. He's the only candidate I've ever donated to. He's the only candidate I ever voted in a primary for. I campaigned for everyone I know to vote for this guy."
  
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Obama's nomination-clinching rally provided a dry run for the people preparing for the Republican National Convention in the same building this September.
  
Xcel Energy Center officials said they and GOP convention organizers were paying close attention to traffic control, crowd movement and security steps.
  
Erin Dady, a convention point person for St. Paul, said the convention affords luxuries the Obama event didn't.
  
"We've had about 72 hours to prepare for this event," she said. "We'll have had essentially two years to prepare for the RNC."
  
Dady credited the upcoming GOP convention with landing the momentous Obama event. Obama chose the site of the Republican convention in part for its symbolic significance and in part because of Minnesota's status as a swing state.
  
Obama made only passing references to the setting of his speech.
  
"In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda" Obama said. "They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign."
  
Dady noted a side benefit of the Obama rally: "It's another chance to remind people that the Xcel Energy Center is in St. Paul, not Minneapolis."
  
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After his address, some leading Minnesota supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton moved into a private meeting with Obama.
  
The group included St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Clinton state director Buck Humphrey, the grandson of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
  
Coleman wasted no time shifting his allegiance to Obama after he had the Democratic nomination in hand. Coleman said he hoped other Clinton supporters would quickly follow.
  
Coleman said he's already spent several hours on the phone urging one-time Clinton backers to unite the party. He said it could take some time to heal the primary wounds.
  
"Some are grieving. It was a tough loss," Coleman said.
  
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was an early Obama supporter. He's going with a soft sell.
  
"We're telling everyone how much we want to work together," Rybak said, "but we're not pushing them."
  
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Clinton's post-primary campaign role was high on the minds of many in the St. Paul audience.
  
Some suggested she stay in the U.S. Senate. Others pegged her as a possible appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court if Obama wins and a vacancy occurs.
  
Thirty-one-year-old Ebenezer Malm's preferred option is to add her to the ticket as Obama's vice presidential choice.
  
"Hillary would be a big boost. She's a fighter," said Malm, who expressed amazement that a fellow black man was now within reach of the White House. "That would be double history in the making."

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)