Hillary Backers Want Convention Vote
By NancyA on August 9, 2008 at 6:21 AM in Barack Obama, Clinton, Current Affairs, Delegates, Democracy, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Nomination, Democratic Party, General Election, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Obama
Brenda Krause is tired of fearmongering among the Democrats. She said this about unity in the party:
“I’m not going to be coerced into something I don’t believe in,” said Krause, who lives in Colorado Springs and owns a real estate office. “That makes me less unified. If they let me have my voice, I’ll feel more unified.”
This is an overwhelming feeling among delegates and supporters all around the country. In Houston last night an Obama supporter, Democratic Party delegate for Obama, Roger Harris spoke about the “the silent message”, the e-mails he has received from PUMAs “wanting delegates to back Hillary Clinton”. He talked about the numbers of e-mails he received in one day.
“The first round I got 99 (e-mails). The second round I got 50 and the next round I got 60. All in the same day,” said Harris, who will be an Obama delegate to the party’s national convention.
PUMAPAC had this to say:
The group told 11 News that it’s also urging Clinton to challenge Obama to a vote at the convention.
A vote the political group said would heal the party, not divide it.
“You can’t achieve unity by telling one side to shut up,” the PAC said in a statement to 11 News. “You have to let the delegates vote for their candidate on the first ballot.
“The fact is, (the party is) extremely split.”
And Clinton supporters across the country want that vote.
Though the majority of the Democratic Party backs Sen. Barack Obama, an undercurrent of staunch and loyal Clinton supporters say they’ll fight all the way to the national convention, which begins Aug. 25 in Denver, to put her name on the ballot.
And it is about the rules of an open convention. It is about the party and basic principles.
Because they were chosen by her supporters in districts across the country, many say they won’t feel that they have fulfilled their duty until they cast a vote for her — however futile that might be.
“I will come on board the unity train with a first-class ticket if, before doing so, I get the opportunity to vote for my candidate,” said Daniel Kagan, a property developer and lawyer from Arapahoe County. “On Aug. 28, when Obama accepts the nomination, I will be there cheering along with the rest of them, but only if I have had the chance to vote first.”
Kagan is among a small group of people working to garner 300 signatures from national delegates to complete DNC rule requirements to put Clinton’s name back on the ballot. Even if they get enough signatures, Clinton must agree to have her name placed on the ballot.
Dean says the decision belongs to Hillary. And there is more on that.
Asked whether Clinton’s name would be on the ballot, Democratic National Convention Committee spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth said that DNC chairman Howard Dean “has said that’s up to her, whether she will put her name in nomination.”
Clinton has said in YouTube postings and in a Web chat Thursday that she is working with the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign to find a solution.
Texas delegate Linda Figueroa, a 53-year-old paralegal from Corpus Christi, said the pledged Clinton supporters were told in a delegate conference call this week that they would not get to vote for her. Figueroa said the senator’s scheduled speech on the floor of the Pepsi Center on Tuesday evening, Aug. 26, was “not enough.”
So many others are speaking out including a “300″ petition to get Hillary’s name placed in nomination.
In an attempt to inspire the masses, Kagan, a delegate from Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, borrowed from French philosopher Voltaire.
“I don’t agree with the way you intend to vote, but I’ll fight to the death for your right to vote,” he said.
Others, like Will Bower, a founder of Project Unity My A–, or PUMA, are not ready to support Obama.
“Most of us are still working toward getting Hillary the nomination,” he said. “We still see a path for victory in Denver.”
There will be an Anti-”coronation” protest according to Simone DuBois. More on Simone Dubois and her group:
At the convention, vociferous Clinton supporters will protest and hold signs that will read “Denounce Nobama’s Coronation.”
Former Colorado Senator Gary Hart had to throw in his two cents too, which weren’t needed:
Allowing delegates to vote for their chosen candidate gives them an opportunity to celebrate that candidate and their work on the campaign, said former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who ran for president in 1984 and 1988.
At the convention in 1984, Hart said, each of his 1,200 delegates voted for him “with no defections.”
“My people put on a massive demonstration. It went on for 10 or 15 minutes,” Hart said. “They felt very good about it afterward.”
Hart thinks Clinton, a longtime party loyalist, will want to prevent protests and help Obama get elected.
But still many Clinton supporters feel Obama has not done enough to offer peace in the party. He was dismissive of Hillary and her supporters during the primaries. And one Colorado resident spoke out on that. Her words echo a sentiment in many Hillary supporters.
Awilda Marquez, a Colorado delegate, said she feels like his campaign has been dismissive of Clinton supporters.
“They say they don’t need us. . . . I don’t spend 30 seconds a day thinking about that,” Marquez said. “When I see a top woman being called a whore and a she-goat, . . . I can’t forget that.”
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