By Niall Stanage, Amie Parnes and Ben Kamisar – 07/12/16 08:27 PM EDT at The Hill

It was an endorsement nearly one month in the making.

Bernie Sanders’s backing of Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H., came after many delicate conversations between the two camps, sources say.

The successful conclusion to that process — the former secretary of State and the Vermont senator smiling broadly as they stood side by side — was a ­welcome sight for Democrats who have been desperate to build a united front to help defeat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in November.

“Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process, and I congratulate her for that,” Sanders said. “She will be the Democratic nominee for president, and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States.”

The onetime rivals stood on a stage flanked by decorative pillars spelling out a Clinton slogan, “Stronger Together,” that seemed apposite for the occasion.

As they embraced at the end of Sanders’s speech, a microphone picked up Clinton telling him, “That was so great.”… read more here