Democratic partisans filled bleachers and waved red-and-blue "Unite for Change" posters as giant letters spelling UNITY towered above the crowd.
Even the unofficial mayor of Unity seemed to get swept up in the pageant. Before introducing Obama and Clinton, Ken Hall confessed he had voted for McCain in the state's primary. But then he delighted the crowd by announcing: "I may be part of this change."
For her part, Clinton declared the support that many Democrats want to hear more of between now and November. "I know what we start here in this field in Unity will end on the steps of the Capitol, when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president," the New York senator told the cheering crowd.
Clinton -- who, with her husband, former President Clinton, sent the Obama campaign a pair of $2,300 checks, reciprocating a donation made Thursday by the Obamas to ease her campaign debt -- stressed that her mission is now Obama's. And she urged her supporters to join her in helping put a Democrat in the White House.
"We may have started on separate paths, but today our paths have merged," she said, echoing remarks she made three weeks ago when she exited the presidential race and endorsed Obama.
Clinton praised Obama for his public service and his campaign for clinching the nomination. "I had a front-row seat to his candidacy. And I've seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit," she said.
Obama returned the praise, lauding Clinton and her husband for their talent and taking note of Clinton's historic achievement as the most successful female presidential candidate in history.
"I know that, because of our campaign, because of the campaign that Hillary Clinton waged, my daughters and all of your daughters will forever know that there is no barrier to who they are and what they can be in the United States of America," Obama said. "They can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do, and do it better.
"And do it in heels."
The crowd cheered Obama as he asked them to join him and Clinton to tackle healthcare and tax reform, the environment and the war in Iraq.
But amid the applause, a shadow of the closely contested race for the Democratic nomination lingered.
Clinton acknowledged that the race had been fierce. "I'm proud that we had a spirited dialogue," she said, prompting chuckles from the crowd.
"That was the nicest way I could think of putting it."
And although the two lawmakers stepped onto the stage together, they left separately as Clinton quickly stepped down after Obama finished speaking.
Afterward, some in the crowd noted the occasional awkwardness of the event. "I felt the disappointment," said Ella Perry, an 85-year-old retiree from nearby Windsor, Vt., who had backed Clinton in the primary and said she still thinks Clinton would have been the better nominee.
The latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that only two-thirds of Clinton's supporters said they would support Obama; 11% said they would choose McCain and the rest were undecided or supporting other candidates.
Perry, who came to Unity with her granddaughter, an Obama supporter, still wasn't ready to commit to voting for Obama in the fall.
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noam.levey@latimes.com
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Times staff writer Maeve Reston in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
