DENVER - Hillary Clinton's loss has been a bitter pill to swallow for her supporters, with some of the more extreme Clintonites taking raucously to the streets of Denver this week to say they'd vote for Republican John McCain before they'd cast a ballot for Barack Obama.
The still-simmering feud between Obama and Clinton supporters has, in fact, been the story of the convention. The New York senator urged her delegates to rally to Obama on Tuesday night in her address at the Democratic National Convention.
"I am here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat, as a proud senator from New York, as a proud American and as a proud supporter of Barack Obama," Clinton said to delirious cheers from the crowd in the packed Pepsi Center.
"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kid? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?"
Clinton's speech was aimed at bringing her embittered supporters into the fold, since many of them believe vehemently that sexism - even from other women - was at play in her defeat in a country that was one of the last industrialized nations on Earth to give women the right to vote.
"She was held to a different standard," said Sue Zloth, a longtime Obama supporter and a local organizer for the Democratic party in Douglas County, south of Denver.
"When she became argumentative or she became forceful, they said she's bitchy. And there were comments about what she was wearing and how she looked, sometimes from other women - it was disgusting."
Shawn Parry-Giles, a professor of political communications at the University of Maryland, said that kind of treatment might be offputting to any woman considering a career in politics in the United States.
"Women may look at what happened to Hillary Clinton and think absolutely not, I am not going to put myself through that," she said.
"But on the other hand, I think back to how far women have come in terms of progress. When my grandmother was born, women couldn't vote. And Clinton had a very viable campaign and she almost won, and by some accounts, she actually did win. There are now more women governors than ever before, and those jobs can be springboards to making a run for the president."
Clinton herself said in her concession speech that she made 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling with her run for Democratic nomination - a reference to the 18 million votes she received during the primaries. One of her delegates, in Denver this week for the convention, agrees wholeheartedly.
Denise Gilmore, 21, from Missouri, is now backing Obama, saying he's the only "smart choice." But she added that Clinton has done wonders for women of her generation.
"The next Hillary Clintons are out there - strong, progressive women who are working hard and looking to get elected," said Gilmore as she rode the public transit in Denver after an event.
"And for me, being a young woman, it's incredibly inspirational for me to have someone like Hillary Clinton to look up to in the political process. She's motivated so many of us. And the sexist treatment of her by the media, from where I'm coming from, gave us all the more reason to fight."
So who are the future Hillary Clintons waiting in the wings?
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is the name most often mentioned as the Democratic party's next great female hope. The 60-year-old is an avid environmentalist, is pro-choice and anti-capital punishment, and was on Obama's short list of running mate possibilities.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill are also considered up-and-coming stars in the Democratic party.
All three Democrats - Sebelius, Napolitano and McCaskill - have achieved great political successes in states that went to George W. Bush in the 2004 election.
On the Republican side, there's Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, once named as one of the most powerful women in the United States.
Hutchinson, 65, is the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate and the most senior female Republican senator. She's a moderate on the abortion issue, saying it should not be outlawed, and supports looser handgun laws.
There's also the 72-year-old Elizabeth Dole, the wife of onetime presidential hopeful Bob Dole and now the senator for North Carolina. The longtime politico was on the short list of potential running mates to Bush in 2000, but Dick Cheney got the nod. Her age is now considered a factor that would likely keep her from running for president.
A younger Republican star is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Just 44 and telegenic, Palin is the first female governor of Alaska, and its youngest. She was elected by first defeating the incumbent Republican governor in the Republican primary, and then icing a Democratic governor in the general election.
Parry-Giles fears, however, that the very masculinity associated with the office of president will long be a problem for women regardless of their party.
"I think, unfortunately for women, that the presidency is viewed as a very masculine office because of its links to the military, the fact that the president is the commander-in-chief - it's hard for some people to conceptualize a woman being in that position," she said.
"There are still so many obstacles that have everything to do with gender. There are those who still believe that they feel more comfortable with men in power, even other women."
But Zloth remains awed by Clinton's historical run.
"After this, it won't be so odd or weird for a woman to be such an exciting, viable candidate for president," she said.
"What she's done for young women, and the inspiration she's given to them, is invaluable. It's priceless."
