Luckily we arrived early at the Pepsi Center at the Democratic National Convention on Day 3. We found seats at about 3:35 p.m. in section 335. (I just realized that....) We sat down and shortly after, the fun began. 

Nancy Pelosi took the podium and announced that two people had been nominated for president and that the party would take Roll Call, where each state would cast its votes for the candidates.

And then Roll Call began. Alabama. People beside us were tallying the votes in their notebooks. Alaska. Darn. I wish I had a notebook. American Samoa. Did you know they get 9 votes? California passed. What? Why? How is it possible that an entire state with 441 votes would pass on such a great responsibility? .... Guam. Nine votes, too. Hawaii.  Barack Obama’s birth state. Illinois. Barack Obama’s state passed. Come again?

I honestly thought the world had gone mad. California and Illinois passed. Roll call continued. And things happened quickly.

Iowa. Nebraska. New Mexico yielded to Illinois. Illinois yielded to New York. And then Senator Hillary Clinton made her way to the microphone and asked that the counting be stopped and that the party nominate Barack Obama by acclimation. 

“In the spirit of unity, with a goal of victory, with a faith in our party and our country, let’s declare together in one voice, right here right now that Barack Obama is our candidate, and he will be our president,” she said.

Which the party did. And the center erupted in cheers and applause.

I understand now that Roll Call is choreographed. Planned. Orchestrated. Deliberate. But sitting in the center, not sure how things would play out, I was excited and interested and moved by the voting -- the incredible responsibility of the delegates of each state -- and by the actions of Nevada, Illinois and New York.

And in that moment, I was also incredibly impressed with Clinton. In the last three days, she has done everything she can to unite the party and still keep her supporters engaged in the conversation and the work of the party.

She could just as easily have not participated in the proceedings, taken that proverbial ball and just gone home. But she stayed in the game. And she kept playing. She’s more than a politician. She’s an athlete. She’s a winner. And she still has a lot of people's votes.

Update: Thank you to WritingEd for pointing out my mistake. New Mexico (not Nevada) yielded to Illinois. I made the correction above!