Rivals turned allies, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton made a show of unity Friday in a hamlet named for it, their first joint public appearance since the divisive Democratic primary race ended.

“Hello, Unity! Hello, New Hampshire!” Clinton said as she and Obama took the stage together. “Well, Unity is not only a beautiful place as we can see, it’s a wonderful feeling isn’t it? And I know when we start here in this field in Unity, we’ll end on the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president.”

As she spoke from a podium, Obama, the Democrat who is competing against Republican John McCain, sat next to her on a stool, coatless with his white shirt sleeves rolled up.

Clinton noted that the Arizona senator and the GOP probably hoped she wouldn’t join forces with Obama.

“But I’ve got news for them: We are one party, we are one America and we are not going to rest until we take back our country and put it once again on the path to peace, prosperity and progress in the 21st century,” Clinton said to cheers.

She encouraged her supporters to join with his “to create an unstoppable force for change we can all believe in.” She noted she’s had a “front-row seat” to Obama’s candidacy and praised “his grace and his grit.”

Moments earlier, the two snaked their way through some 6,0000 people who gathered to watch in one of the wide-open fields of the tiny town of 1,700. The crowd overflowed some bleacher seats. It’s a carefully chosen venue in a key general election battleground state: Unity awarded exactly 107 votes to each candidate in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary in January.