democracticnationalconvention coverage by LAist

Sen. Ted Kennedy's speech, obvs. The expectations going in were that this would be the senator's final public speech -- but Kennedy walked out on stage and continued standing during his entire speech, defying expectations that he would look different, appear to be very weak and need to sit on the stool that had been brought out for him due to his cancer treatment. Several delegates we were near had already started to get teary during the video tribute to Kennedy, so the emotional impact of the incredibly popular senator promising that he would "be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate" packed a real wallop. Kennedy was the hit of the night on the convention floor.
Michelle Obama's speech was a close second. I had to head out of the Pepsi Center while she was still talking, but the entire house was rapt as she described what she and her husband have in common: "He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did," she said. Mrs. Obama did a good job convincing the crowd that she is a working mother who can identify with the struggles of ordinary Americans, proving herself a real asset to the campaign.