Gerard Baker | Obama assassination plot | Michelle Obama speech | Ted Kennedy | Clinton-Obama tension | Across the Pond

Somewhere in the midst of all the razzmatazz, security scares and psycho-babble about the Clintons’ state of mind, Barack Obama has an important message. The trouble, say some worried Democrats, is it’s not getting through.

The Democratic Convention in Denver has already been compared with the last one, when more time was devoted to giving a feel-good personal biography of the party’s candidate, John Kerry, than attacking the Republicans.

Yesterday the first carefully choreographed steps were taken towards unity with Hillary Clinton, ahead of her big speech to the convention last night, when she appeared with Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives Speaker, and Mr Obama’s wife, Michelle, to “celebrate the power of Democratic women”.

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The former First Lady was given a rapturous reception by delegates at the Emily’s List event, where she told them that they had work to do in “putting more cracks into that glass ceiling” at the White House so that “one day it will completely shatter”.

Her appearance, on the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America, was in front of many of her most devoted female followers, whose opposition to Mr Obama has hardened in recent weeks over reports that Mr Obama had snubbed her for the vice-presidency and virtually disregarded the huge vote she achieved in the primaries.

Knowing that her own political future could be damaged if she is seen as a divisive figure within the party, Mrs Clinton told them that Mr Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, “will champion the causes we care most about” in the White House. She said: “We need all those who knocked on doors and made phone calls for me — and got into arguments from time to time — to work as hard for Barack Obama as you worked for me.”

She also paid tribute to Mrs Obama in a reference to the controversial 3am phone-call advertisement that she ran in the primary campaign. “If the President is not exactly on our side,” she said, “call Michelle Obama and we will have someone answering that phone!”

Mrs Obama, in her own speech, sought to stamp on rumours that she dislikes Mrs Clinton by thanking her for the “open and gracious” advice on becoming a first lady.

She said that Mrs Clinton’s candidacy had destroyed the stereotypes and perceptions that women could not run for president. “That is over, those days are gone,” she said.

Inside the Pepsi Centre, where the convention is being held, the atmosphere remains a mixture of a theme park gift shop and a sales conference. Hawaiian delegates wear flower necklaces, Texans sport cheap cowboy hats, Alaskans are in what look like embroidered Eskimo tunics.

The men in suits are too busy flicking business cards at each other to listen to most speeches. Every 20 minutes or so, a live band strikes up and everybody gets up to dance or wave their placards.

The big star on Monday was Senator Edward Kennedy, who arrived on stage eight weeks after undergoing surgery for a brain tumour. Delegates were shown spine-tingling images of the Kennedy brothers before the liberal lion, with patches of hair missing in his famous white thatch, brought the convention to its feet with a vow that he would be in the Senate to see “the torch passed again to a new generation of Americans” at Mr Obama’s inauguration.

Mrs Obama spoke with a softer voice than usual and smiled shyly at the end of her sentences, as she reassured sceptical voters that her family shared American middle-class values.

She played down her career as a top lawyer and emphasised her role as mother and wife, relating a touching anecdote about Mr Obama driving their new-born baby daughter back from hospital, “inching along at a snail’s pace, peering anxiously in the rear-view mirror”.

Despite the show of unity, the first night reviews, especially from Clinton loyalists, were grim. James Carville, Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist, did little to conceal his disdain, saying: “If this party has a message, it’s done a heck of a job of hiding it.” Even Mr Obama’s supporters suggested that it was time for him to start “the second wave of this campaign”.

The terms of a unity agreement with Mrs Clinton were still, at this late hour, being negotiated. The plan is to start a roll-call of votes from the delegations today before — with the agreement of both sides — being halted mid-way so that Mr Obama’s nomination is approved by acclamation.

Mr Clinton speaks later today and Mr Obama has had to deny reports that he was trying to set constraints on what the former President might talk about — while admitting he has his “work cut out” to bring all Mrs Clinton’s supporters into the fold.

Jesse Jackson Jr, a leading supporter of Mr Obama, acknowledged that the wounds of that battle had now become infected with a “little bit of pus”.

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