Local political pundits agree that Hillary and Bill Clinton's seeming strong backing at this week's Democratic National Convention of presidential nominee Barack Obama didn't hurt.

They, however, also concur it won't ensure victory when Obama squares off against Republican John McCain on election day.

"Having the Clintons play such a large role at the convention certainly didn't hurt Obama, but it's not likely to be decisive on election day," said Jeffrey Key, professor and head of the department of political science at Hardin-Simmons University.

Paul Fabrizio, professor of political science at McMurry University, said the whole point of the convention has been to "unify a bitterly divided party."

"That was achieved partly by Hillary Clinton's speech and then completed by the vote by acclamation for Obama and Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday night," Fabrizio said. "There will be pockets of discontent at Obama from Clinton's supporters that will linger, but the race will move on. I would imagine that most Democrats will end up voting for Obama when the time comes."

Key said it is "hard to say" if the Democratic Party is more unified as a result of the convention.

"Both parties are made up of various groups with different interests and agendas," Key said. "That will be as true after the Democratic convention as it was before."

Fabrizio said the Democratic Party has been the "party of identity" for a long time, meaning identity of race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation and gender.

"This year that split the party with the campaigns of Clinton and Obama," Fabrizio said. "Healing such a basic division has been difficult and tortured, and we saw the last act of that healing last night with the nomination of Obama. His speech (Thursday night) started a new chapter in the race where the party must unite or lose.

"And I think the basic partisan division in this country between Democrats and Republicans is much bigger than the intraparty division over race and gender that the Democratic race exposed."

As such, Fabrizio said, the words of Hillary and Bill Clinton are important to Obama.

"He (Obama) can use them to tell Democrats that it is time to move on," Fabrizio said, "and the Clintons can use their own convention words to say to people that they have helped heal the party and have united around the nominee. This is especially important if Obama loses because Hillary Clinton might try to run again."

Meanwhile, Key said McCain will make an early Republican vice presidential choice -- as soon as today -- to "draw attention from the post Democratic convention buzz."

Fabrizio said McCain has a "difficult job head."

"It is possible that his (Republican Party) convention is going to be overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav, which will make a Gulf Coast landfall on Monday evening possibly -- the first night of the convention," Fabrizio said. "The press will be racing down to see the hurricane and see how the Republican administration handles it. Of course, the third anniversary of Katrina is this weekend.

"It is possibly a bad time to have a convention. On top of that, if McCain chooses either a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) or a pro-choice Republican (Tom Ridge), he might have a convention fight on his hands and end up dividing the party when it is supposed to be coming together."