If only she could have been so open earlier-

"...So to all those who voted for me and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding.

"You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives. And you have humbled me with your commitment to our country. Eighteen million of you, from all walks of life...

(APPLAUSE)

"... women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African- American and Caucasian...

(APPLAUSE)

"... rich, poor, and middle-class, gay and straight, you have stood with me.

(APPLAUSE)

...

(APPLAUSE)

"We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality, from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights...

(APPLAUSE)

"... from ending discrimination to promoting unionization, to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families...

"Let us resolve and work toward achieving very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits, and there are no acceptable prejudices in the 21st century in our country."

If Mrs. Clinton had been able to give today's speech some time back, it might not have been a concession speech.

Not just from the standpoint of gay voters, although that's what we've highlighted here. It strikes us that since March, as Mrs. Clinton has found her voice yet again, it is the voice of her youth- a Hubert Humphrey liberal.

She ought to have embraced that a long time ago. We have remarked in this space before that in her campaign- whether operating under a plan or not- the core of her constituency emerged, not as the DLC moderates of Bubba's days, but as the old guard of the party- women, unions, the hard working whites of Appalachia. People who made up the post-war Democratic base. Maybe she could have expanded that into a winning combination. Lord knows, she came close. And maybe defeat will liberate her to fight another time, unfettered by Bubba's outdated and erratic political chops, and Mark Penn's Ronco slice and dice polling methods.

We expect once the histories are written, it will be Penn and Bubba who will be seen to have sunk Hillary's campaign. The two men are data trenchermen. They love to chew the cud over discriminate variables and regression analyses, and the trouble with numbers is they assume their own Delphic logic. If you worship them too closely you can miss when you're getting the head-fake, and that's what happened in this race. For too long she was too cautious. She doled out her little micromessage of the day a la Reagan, but without the ideological conviction that lay behind his handlers' determination of what those messages were.

Jim Bourg/Reuters

We highlighted the sections of the speech above to make a point. Gay voters don't look for special rights. They want a sense that they might get up to the same level of rights as their straight next-door neighbor. And the start of that ascent is recognition. Not being singled out. Just being included. When you hear a PC politician going through the laundry lists of groups to mention and gays aren't in it, you have to figure it's by choice. You've been left out because it won't sell. It'll undermine the larger message. Politics is the art of the possible after all. Bear with us, we'll get to you when it's easier.

As Bubba's pilot fish, Penn helped persuade the Big Dog gays were a liability to his reelection, and signing onto DOMA would remedy that. Not to mention advertising on Christian radio taking credit for doing it. It was Bubba who gave John Kerry similar advice in 2004.

Today was the first time we've seen Mrs. Clinton seem relaxed and able to speak those few words above without looking anxious. At this point it costs her nothing; it could be that other advisers urged her to throw in the kitchen sink to prove her bona fides to Senator Obama.

But you know sometimes all it takes to close the deal between a candidate and a voter is to treat the voter like he exists. That- for the first time ever in a nationally televised forum, is what Mrs, Clinton did today, and we applaud her.

Trust us, Mrs. C., it'll get easier every time you do it. And people notice. And those people vote.