Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost a bruising primary battle to Obama and then was passed over as his running mate, returned to Miami again to stump for her former rival.

"It's like we've been in a long long race and we can see the finish line,” she told a fired-up crowd outside Old San Juan Restaurant in Little Havana. “We can't let anybody stop us or trip us up or divert or distract us. We have to get across that finish line. Everything is at stake that we care about." (Buzz audio here. Continue reading below and see more photos.)

Before stood scores of Hispanic voters, a key voting bloc that Obama
and McCain are fighting for. The Obama campaign, which has been
attacked by a barrage of Spanish-language radio ads and mailers, was
spending the final hours of race trying to solidify its support.

Volunteers handed out stickers that read “Hispanics for Change” and
arranged for buses to take people from the rally to early voting sites
and to canvass neighborhoods.

“How many of you have already voted?” Clinton said. A sea of hands shot
up amid a roaring cheer. “Do you anybody who’s leaning in the wrong
direction? Well, here’s what I want you to do: I want you to make the
case for Sen. Obama, and it’s not hard to make. … It took a Democratic
president to clean up after the first president Bush. It’s going to
take a Democratic president to clean up after this President Bush.”

When she was finished, Clinton went inside to shake hands, her campaign
eagerly inviting in TV cameras with the hopes the scene would appear on
the evening newscast. Clinton also took a few questions from reporters.

Asked about a new Republican Party mailer showing her and McCain
together and asking her supporters to back the Republican, she offered
a twist on the standard political disclaimer, “I’m Hillary Clinton and
I do not approve that message.

Story and photos by Alex Leary