Florida delegates to the Democratic National Convention got a pleasant surprise Tuesday night—Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton appeared at a delegation party following Clinton’s speech to the convention.

The party, in a club lounge at Invesco Field, was actually for the delegations from four large states Clinton won in the primaries—Florida, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

It was a rather dull affair until around 10:30, when an announcer came to a podium and introduced Govs. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Jon Corzine of New Jersey and David Paterson of New York—plus the Clintons. Each spoke briefly, and the theme was similar to Clinton’s convention speech—the need to rally around Obama—although the Clintons also lavished thanks and praise on their supporters in the four states. They emphasized that Democrats shouldn’t take the race for granted—“Some people think all we have to do in November is show up,” she said.

Praising Hillary’s convention speech, Bill said he would “forgive her in advance” for “making it look like I don’t know how to give a talk.”

Absent from the stage was any Floridian, notably Clinton’s top Florida supporter and senior elected Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson. But both Clintons mentioned him in their speeches, and both also gave a shout-out to one of their most ardent and loyal Tampa Bay area supporters, state Sen. Arthenia Joyner.

The event was closed to the press (a very small number of reporters finagled tickets) and party officials wouldn’t say where Nelson was.

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