Hillary’s turn
Hillary Clinton will deliver a much-anticipated address to Democratic delegates assembled in Denver this evening, part of the DNC’s “Renewing America’s Promise” night.
Clinton made her first convention appearance before the New York delegation on Monday. The New York Times noted that she sounded “strong in her support for Senator Obama — and her commitment to putting him in the White House next year.“ In a line you’re likely to hear tonight, Clinton said of the continuing friction between her supporters and Obama’s supporters, “We are Democrats. It may take a while. We’re not the fall-in-line party.”
Clinton’s job tonight will be to tamp down the remaining discord among her supporters, who resent the way Democratic Party leaders arbitrated the Michigan-Florida delegate flap and are outraged at what they perceive as the Obama campaign’s disrespect for her in the vice presidential search process.
It’s a tall order. There have been some ugly skirmishes between the camps, and anecdotal evidence abounds that her supporters will stay home or vote for John McCain in the fall. Some of her supporters simply don’t believe she’s throwing in with Obama. From CNN’s Political Ticker:
Reports that Clinton was planning to ask her delegates to support Obama were greeted by some there with angry disbelief. “Have you heard it from her mouth? Have you? Have you? Did her campaign say it on the record?“ demanded a woman in a black pro-Hillary t-shirt. “Yeah, I didn’t think so,“ she said, and walked away.
But the latest slings and arrows angering Clinton supporters is one of the reported efforts actually meant to bind the party together: A two-part roll call vote. According to the Denver Post:
The move being worked out between the Obama campaign and officials behind Clinton’s suspended bid, would work in two parts: Delegates would cast votes at their hotels Wednesday morning; that night, at the Pepsi Center convention site, the roll-call process would rely on the votes cast that morning, the delegates said.
Obama adviser Jennifer Backus denied that negotiations to split the roll-call vote were underway. But even a rumor was enough to stir things up. Reaction among Clinton supporters included these:
“I came out here by God to vote for her, and I’m going to do it,“ said David Harper, a “visibly angry” delegate from Macon County, Tenn.
“I could have voted from home,“ said Hernando, Miss., delegate Kelly Jacobs. “She is our captain. We don’t want to see her disrespected.“
Incensed at what would be a departure from the traditional roll-call vote procedure, Clinton’s delegates were “furiously” working to secure the 800 signatures that would block it, the Post said.
For their part, the McCain campaign is doing all it can to stoke the flames Clinton is trying to put out.
You’ve probably heard about “Debra,“ the new ad featuring a former Clinton supporter who says she will vote for McCain in the fall.
“Debra” is Debra Bartoshevich, a former delegate who was stripped of her status in June after she publicly announced that she would support the Republican nominee-to-be.
“A lot of Democrats will vote McCain,“ Bartoshevich encourages her colleagues in the ad. “It’s okay, really!“
It isn’t OK with Clinton. Even though she had previously condemned the ad through her spokeswoman, Clinton told the group back at the New York delegation meeting, “I’m Hillary Clinton, and I do NOT approve that ad.”
Hillary Clinton positioned herself as the underdog in the last few months of the Democratic presidential primary. That experience in coming in handy this week: As she’s preaching unity tonight in Denver, the odds are certainly against her.
