"I thought the speech was transcendent," she said. That's "what I thought. I thought the speech made us all feel we can do better, be better, walk taller, be higher. I just have never experienced anything like that." And she said "ANYTHING" as if it was all capitalized.
Winfrey hosted several huge rallies for Obama at the start of the primary season in Iowa and South Carolina, which he won, and New Hampshire, which he lost. As reported here in The Ticket, her daytime TV audience, while remaining the largest, did shrink after her first involvement in partisan politics.
Many women expressed strong disappointment that she had abandoned the first serious female candidate for the White House, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in favor of Obama.
Did Obama win the election as a result of the speech? "I think what he won was everybody wanting to go out and make sure he wins the election," she said.
Then came the fashion admission: "I cried my eyelashes off just when he walked out.
"What was the best part? Every part of it. Everything he said. I thought it was the promise of democracy fulfilled tonight."
"You can make him win!" an admirer shouted.
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Excerpted from The Times' political blog Top of the Ticket, at www.latimes.com/topofthe ticket. Frederick reported from Denver, Malcolm from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Kate Linthicum and Peter Nicholas contributed.
