Obama's wife, Kennedy take stage at DNC on Monday night

Denver — Democrats kicked off their national convention Monday by hearing from the person who knows Barack Obama the best — his wife.

Michelle Obama, the Illinois senator’s wife of 15 years, spoke to a Denver crowd Monday night about the couple’s family backgrounds and how their upbringings would apply to the presidency.

“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values — that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do,” she said.

She added that her husband is running to responsibly end the war in Iraq, make health care available for every American and to promote education from preschool to college.

“He’ll achieve these goals the same way he always has, by bringing us together and reminding us how much we share and how alike we really are,” she said.

In the hours leading up to Michelle Obama’s speech, a sea of delegates seated in front of the convention’s main stage rhythmically pumped American flags and signs with Obama’s campaign-long slogan, “Change We Can Believe In.”

The Pepsi Center, site of this election season’s Democratic National Convention, housed almost no empty seats for opening night. Convention attendants filled the upper bowl to the edges of the main stage, making up in spirit what they lacked in visibility.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean rang in the 2008 convention Monday afternoon and a laundry list of speakers, including U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, followed throughout the evening.

Before Michelle Obama took the stage Monday night, longtime U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., received several standing ovations during a previously unscheduled appearance.

The audience chanted “Teddy” and waved signs for Kennedy, who made his second public appearance since June, when he had brain surgery.

“Nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” said Kennedy, an ardent Obama supporter who trumpeted the prospects of an administration under the junior Illinois senator Monday.

Barack Obama, who is still on the campaign trail, appeared via satellite from Kansas City, Mo., following his wife’s speech.

He applauded her, saying, “Now all of you know why I asked her out so many times,” and greeted his two children, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, as they stood on the center stage.