Takeaways: Clinton skates through her program and sticks her landing

PHILADELPHIA — After a historic night, the presidential campaign enters a new, and final, phase. But before attention shifts to the decisive 100-day sprint to Election Day, here's a look back on the last night of a Democratic convention that presented a starkly different portrait of America than the Republican convention that preceded it.

Blades of glory

Hillary Clinton gave the most important speech of her political career Thursday and did not blow it.

The speech itself will not go down in history as great oratory; it was more like a talented figure skater working through required elements. There was at the top a plea for the restive Bernie Sanders supporters to join with her. She noted that the convention had approved a heavily Sanders-influenced platform and she promised that as president she would implement it. “Your cause is our cause,” she said.

Analysis: Clinton's speech carries weight of history

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It mostly worked. There was a bit of booing, but no major disruptions as she skated through the rest of her program: The promises to raise up working families; the repeated calls for the country to come together; the pledges that the rich must pay more and the poor must get paid more.

And then she turned her guns on Trump, which is guaranteed safe territory at a Democratic convention. Her take on her opponent could be summed up by her description of his acceptance speech last week: “He spoke for 70-odd minutes — and I do mean odd.”

Clinton’s speech was far more predictable but not quite as memorable. But she executed all her required moves and will likely be scored well by the judges.

The Clinton Dynasty

In October 1991, Bill Clinton, then a young and relatively unknown Arkansas governor, announced he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Nearly 25 years later, after scandals, triumphs, setbacks and comebacks, the Clintons endure as the dominant family in Democratic Party politics, and in nearly six months, they may take residence in the White House again.

It's a remarkable period of longevity for a single family at the top and one almost unmatched in American history, with the Kennedys and Bushes being their only rivals to the distinction of pre-eminent family in American politics.

Bill and Hillary Clinton did it in very different ways: He was a small-state attorney general, then governor; she was a first lady, U.S. senator, then secretary of State. He won his first White House run, she lost hers. He ran in 1992 as a New Democrat who sought to rebrand the party after a string of presidential election losses; she's running in 2016 as a candidate uniquely qualified to build on the achievements of the past eight years of a Democratic president.

The one common denominator? Aside from Barack Obama, no one has resonated with Democratic voters over the span of a generation more than Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton's brand survives a generational shift

Clinton's army

The Democratic convention served as a kind of parade of soldiers in Hillary Clinton’s Army, a seemingly unending stream of elected Democratic officials — governors, senators, leaders in the U.S. House — cheering her on and promising to march into battle for her in the fall. Even her top rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, threw his support behind Clinton and promised to campaign around the country on her behalf.

These people are part of the reason the “establishment” usually wins. They can raise vast sums of money, mobilize their deep networks in key states and repeat the party’s message into every available microphone.

It was a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s convention, which had a much shorter list of top elected officials, and some of those who were there — Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Ted Cruz — have been less than full-throated in their endorsements of Trump. Cruz has refused to endorse Trump at all. Many of Trump’s most ardent supporters are political newcomers, with access to neither big money nor big phone lists.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword: Trump can argue that Clinton is the creation of an insider’s club, wrapped in the protection of the status quo, while he is the outsider storming the gates of the castle.

It’s a popular theme these days. But still — it’s good to have a castle.

Phooey, Philly

With the exception of the disruptions mounted by the Bernie or Bust delegates, the Democrats’ convention ran pretty smoothly — inside the arena.

Outside the arena was a different story. Unlike Cleveland, the Philadelphia convention site is about 6 miles from downtown, where the bulk of delegates were sleeping and the bulk of parties and events were staged. That meant an enormous amount of vehicle traffic that created gridlock around the arena at peak hours. Making matters worse, the state police closed a lane on I-95 to enforce a ban on overweight trucks, creating massive backups for anyone coming in from outside the city.

Media were housed in giant tents that were steamy hot by midday and freezing cold when not in direct sun. Summer downpours pounded the cloth ceilings, making everything else inaudible, and when lightning approached, reporters were advised to run across an open parking lot in the rain to take shelter in a baseball stadium.

The broad consensus of attendees was we would rather be in Cleveland.

Take that, Donald

Democrats won the balloons. Hands down.