DENVER, Colo. - Members of Iowa's delegation to the Democratic National Convention here gave Hillary Clinton high praise Tuesday night, calling her much-anticipated prime time speech a big step toward healing the rifts that flared into the open before the state's first-in-the-nation caucus and still remained the topic of much speculation going into the convention.

"I think she nailed it," state party chair Scott Brennan said.

Clinton urged her backers to get behind the Illinois senator, while also talking about the causes that animated her campaign. That, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley of Waterloo said made a strong argument for Obama.

"I think she used a lot of themes from her campaign to transition into why she believes he's a much superior candidate than John McCain," he said.

Among Clinton delegates, there's often talk of the need for closure. Stephanie Imhoff, a Clinton delegate from Ames, said this should have provided it. "If this doesn't give them closure I don't know what will," she said. "That was phenomenal. I wouldn't have expected anything less from Hillary."

Obama and Clinton fought a historic battle for the party's nomination, beginning with the Illinois senator's win in Iowa and continuing into June. Even after it was clear that Clinton had lost, her supporters have fought to see the New York senator is accorded the proper respect.

Before the speech, several of her supporters said they didn't believe that has been forthcoming.

"I think they need to show a little more respect," Wayne Laufenberg, a union leader from St. Donatus, in northeast Iowa, said Tuesday morning.

A longtime Democratic loyalist, Laufenberg clearly says he'll back Obama after he's nominated and can't understand how Clinton supporters can consider voting for McCain.

Clinton's speech Tuesday night was met with loud applause inside the Pepsi Center and banners were passed out with the words "Hillary," "Obama" and "Unity" printed on them.

Jackie Norris, the Obama campaign's state director in Iowa, also praised the speech and said that Clinton made a "strong case."

She also said the speech gave her supporters a chance to celebrate, just as Obama's supporters will have their chance when he is nominated and then accepts at Invesco Field here Thursday.

Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, responded to the speech by saying Clinton argued during the primary campaign that Obama wasn't prepared to be president.

"Nowhere tonight did she say that Barack Obama is ready to lead. Millions of Hillary Clinton supporters and millions of Americans remain concerned about whether Barack Obama is ready to be president," he said.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563)383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com