Can Al Gore do it? That was really the only question in a week of Democratic choreography where there were to be no surprises. Of course there was a surprise. Monica Lewinsky reared her pretty head again and Democrats were aghast. Will no one rid them of this turbulent dame?
You had to feel sorry for Al. It took four days to get the Clintons out of Los Angeles where they scooped up millions of dollars from their Hollywood pals, had unremitting media attention and put on a Bill and Hillary show on the opening night that had the delegates ecstatic and railing against a Constitution that would not allow a third term for the incumbent.
Meanwhile, Al was making his slow way to the City of the Angels, working the crowds in blue collar country, raising bucks and working on the speech at every spare moment.
Everyone was saying that it was the most important speech of his life. It was his big chance - nay his last chance - to prove to America that he would be different from Bill Clinton but yet a good president.
There was a problem, however. He had been in the US Congress for 16 years and number two in the White House for the past eight, yet we were told that Americans did not know the "real Al Gore".
This explained why out of 116 polls taken so far this year, Gore has been behind George Bush in 109 of them.
Probably even the most dyed-in-the-wool Democrat did not believe this spin from the Gore camp.
Gore has been campaigning non-stop for the past 15 months, reinventing himself along the way from beta-male to alpha-male, from dark suits to earth tones, often surrounded by his lovely wife and loving family.
Newspapers have run profiles of Gore that went on for weeks, even months. Detailed biographies have been published.
Yet the Gore campaign insisted up to his speech on Thursday night that people did not know "the real Gore". The truth is that Americans have seen huge doses of Gore and he does not turn them on.
A lot of people don't like him. Many others do not trust him as they watched his evasions when confronted with evidence of illicit fund-raising during the last election and saw him misrepresent Bill Bradley's policies during a rough primary campaign.
Another problem for the Gore campaign was how it has underestimated George W. Bush.
When he came out of Texas last year as the Republican frontrunner, he was seen as a bit of a joke. He was called "Bush-lite" and "Shrub" and "Daddy's boy".
But from the beginning, a lot of Americans rather liked "Dubbya" and men could identify with his love of parties and beer-drinking (all now in the past, of course).
Bush made no secret that he knew less than Gore about lots of things but there were advisers whose job was to inform him so that he could make the right decisions.
Gore comes across as the man who has all the answers but he won't let you go until he tells you at tedious length.
Life is unfair and Gore is clearly better qualified to be president than a two-term Governor of Texas but American elections are not won on the basis of qualifications.
Gore did splendidly when his big moment came on Thursday night. He paid Bill Clinton a brief tribute at the start and from then on it was his agenda.
Tipper Gore, who is a huge asset, told us about the "real Al" in pictures from their dating days, through Vietnam, births of their children, political career and so on and had the huge hall revved up by the time he bounded on the podium.
Much of the speech was a laundry list of promises of improvements for working families - a classic liberal Democrat agenda of more government spending.
Naturally, the 4,500 activist Democrats cheered wildly.
The Bush campaign rushed out a statement criticising Gore for stirring up "class warfare".
Gore tried to disarm his critics by frankly acknowledging he is not charismatically endowed and can be too serious.
He insisted that the election should not be a popularity contest but a fight for the people.
Gore never mentioned Bush by name but made it clear he was part of the "powerful interests" he would fight against on behalf of the people.
It was just what his audience wanted to hear before the 150,000 balloons and 1,000 lbs of confetti dropped from the roof - most of it bio-degradable, by the way, in keeping with Gore's "green" credentials.
Whoopi Goldberg told him later at the post-convention gala: "Al, your speech kicked ass."
But Gore will not win this election if he cannot reach outside the traditional Democrat base of blue collar workers, labour union activists, Jewish liberals, African-Americans.
He has to attract the middle class "swing voters" in the suburbs who are leaning strongly towards Bush.
It will take several weeks before the polls settle down after the two conventions and Gore will see if he is getting the traction he needs to catch up with Bush and then move in front.
Today he is floating down the Mississippi on a riverboat looking for votes in the American heartland. Now if Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky would just disappear and let us concentrate on the "real Al Gore".