Hillary Clinton ran her campaign as only a woman could

Hillary Clinton can be a hard woman to love. Even in the greatest moment of her political career last night, as she finally claimed the Democratic nomination on behalf of American women, her delivery didn’t quite match the occasion.

The crowd was amped up. Electrified. But where a Donald Trump or a Bernie Sanders or a Bill Clinton would have used every rhetorical flourish and ounce of charisma to take the volume up another level, Clinton could only keep things ticking over, drawing energy from the audience rather than the other way around.

But her message was a powerful one, putting her achievement in the context of centuries of struggle for women. ‘Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone,’ she told the ecstatic crowd in Brooklyn, New York. ‘The first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee.’

The nomination is hers. Even before the result for California was announced, she had picked up solid wins in New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico leaving Sanders with no chance of overhauling her.