Obama: Hillary 'delivered'
'SURPRISE, SURPRISE' | Obama and I watch Hillary's speech together at supporters' house
BILLINGS, Mont. -- On Tuesday night I invited myself into the home of Carlee and Eran Thompson to watch Hillary Clinton give her farewell speech.
That's just not the kind of thing you want to watch by yourself.
(AP)
Apparently not.
Barack Obama walked in around 9:30 p.m., coming in through the garage with a contingent of pool reporters and members of his Secret Service detail.
"Let's watch some convention," Obama said. "Surprise, surprise. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us."
If Carlee, who describes herself as an Obama widow because her husband spends so much time on the campaign, knew Obama was coming, she didn't let her guests in on the secret.
Up until the moment when Obama walked in the door, Carlee was balancing her 4-year-old son and her 1½-year-old daughter.
He came in and took a seat on the large leather sectional in front of the flat screen TV set.
The presidential hopeful ushered Carlee and Eran into their own living room, where they joined him on the couch, holding their two children in their laps.
At one point, Obama took the remote so that he could hear Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer's speech.
Is it time for a change?
"Yes," Obama joined in with the cheers.
Who do we need?
"Obama" the guests yelled along with the television screen.
If anyone could give an honest critique of how Hillary Clinton did, it would be these guys.
They're not your ordinary voters.
They are all heavily involved in the Barack Obama campaign, many of them from the beginning.
"I am just way too liberal," admitted Joan Mickelson, who is a precinct captain.
"I should still be back in the '60s and '70s," she said.
She nearly fell off the couch when Obama walked through the door.
Penny Hanson started out favoring John Edwards, and ended up "tossing" between Clinton and Barack Obama.
"I expect her to be backing Obama and making sure she pulls the women's vote and begging them to keep the party intact and not give it away because of the issue that she and he had," Hanson said before Clinton took to the podium. "She will be eloquent."
Mickelson wasn't so sure.
"Maybe," she said. "You can say things, but if your face doesn't show it and your gestures don't show it and your delivery . . . "
There were probably more reporters and photographers in the Thompsons' living room than guests, but the guests behaved like they were in Denver.
"They are fired up," Obama said when the crowd cheered their governor's speech.
"That's what we need. That's good. He was having a good time," Obama said.
Obama watched the Hillary video intently, with a slight smile.
"That was great," he said afterward.
Although they were thousands of miles away, the crowd in the Thompsons' living room clapped along when Chelsea introduced her mother.
"It was a nice moment," Obama said.
"I am here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat, as a proud senator from New York, a proud American and a proud supporter of Barack Obama," she said.
"It is time to take back the country we love and whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose," Clinton said, bringing applause from the group.
"No way. No how. No McCain," she said.
"Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president."
Mickelson gave the thumbs up.
Obama smiled.
"That was excellent," he said. "She delivered."