DAVENPORT - When the Democratic National Convention opens Monday in Denver, Iowa's 57 delegates will help draw to a close one of the most extraordinary primary seasons on record.

It began in Iowa with a wide-open race. It will end in Denver with the party aiming to get the country behind a single man - Barack Obama.

For people watching on television, the convention will be a four-day show, the party's prime-time opportunity to showcase Obama and a message they hope will lead to a November win.

For delegates on the floor, however, the convention is a uniquely personal chance to take part in a historic moment - nominating the first African-American from a major party to run for president.

Delegates will hear from governors, political up-and-comers, and they'll attend a variety of meetings. They'll have fun, too, of course.

"I've been getting all kinds of mail and phone calls. I think everybody who runs a business is out there giving a party," says George Dixon, a DeWitt retiree who is a delegate.

David Redlawsk, a delegate who's a political science professor at the University of Iowa, will also take the opportunity to teach his class from the convention. He'll use a blog and webcam.

Perhaps most important, the convention will officially mark the time when, after a bruising primary season, Democrats will fully turn their attention on the Republicans instead of each other.

"It'll be good to get down to the real nuts and bolts of what this is all about, and what it's about is electing a Democrat president to change the direction this country is headed," says Wayne Laufenberg, a union leader from St. Donatus in Northeast Iowa.

As in past elections, Iowa is expected to be a battleground this fall.

Republican John McCain visited the state two weeks ago and is advertising heavily here. Obama will be in in Davenport Monday, his second time in Iowa in less a month.

Polls since June have shown Obama with between a 4- and 10-point lead in the state. But one of the questions going into the convention is how much backers of Hillary Clinton will get behind Obama in the general election.

What Clinton has to say Tuesday in her prime-time speech may go a long way toward answering those questions.

"There's a lot of people upset she didn't make it. I'm upset she didn't make it," Laufenberg says.

Still, he says he'll back Obama when the time comes.

"I'm a staunch Democrat," he said. "Whoever the Democratic nominee is, once we get to that point, all the efforts I put into the Clinton campaign will be transferred."

Ione Shadduck, an 84-year-old retired attorney from West Des Moines, also a Clinton delegate, says she'll vote for the New York senator when her name is officially put in nomination.

But she adds she'll fully back Obama when he's picked, even as she worries McCain is making headway in some opinion polls.

Shadduck says she doesn't think many Clinton backers will desert the party, either.

"I don't think in the end they'll vote for McCain," she says.

Iowa not only kick-started Obama's campaign with the Jan. 3 caucuses; succeeding county, district and state conventions showcased his broad organizational strength across the state.

Much of that is from first-time caucus-goers, like Dixon, who says other people like him will be excited by Obama's change message, too.

"He's going to bring a new way of thinking to the office," says Dixon, who's active in church matters. "I think he's a man of faith … a good Christian man. A man of integrity."

This year's Iowa delegation is diverse and has a flavor of youth.

Seven of the delegates are under 25.

Obama leveraged an unprecedented youth vote in Iowa to help him win.

There also is an Iraq War veteran.

Shadduck, at 84, says she's the oldest.

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