Clinton Delegates are pissed. The Clinton National Delegate Network, a grassroots movement of delegates is on the streets of Denver collecting signatures from Hillary delegates. This eleventh hour effort is being organized to ensure that delegates who were elected to represent the voters of each state can and will vote for the candidate they were pledged to.
The DNC and Nancy Pelosi, the Chairman of the Democratic Convention, are doing everything in their power to make sure that does not happen. With Obama’s flagging support, according to the polls, running neck and neck with McCain, they are very worried that Hillary will get the nomination if a roll call vote takes place on the convention floor. That is why they are making the delegates have a secret hotel vote, instead of the floor vote that’s been done since forever. The hotel vote will purportedly take place on Wednesday morning, August 27, 2008.
However, there is a DNC rule that says if 20% of a candidate’s delegates sign a petition for a roll call vote, it must happen. This means that Hillary needs 826 of her delegates to sign this petition. I visited their headquarters along with BettyJean, Pagan, Hill08, and BrendaLynn. As we set out on our mission, we got three signatures in less than one block. They headed for the Pepsi Center to collect more, and got about 40 in an hour, and I came back to Puma Headquarters to blog. Last word I got was there were over 400 signatures gathered.
Pagan reports that he talked to a delegate who originally supported Hillary. The delegate declined to sign or divulge the delegation he was from. He said he would vote the way his state party told him to vote and that Terry McAuliffe had instructed them in how to vote. When Pagan asked if he’d mind sharing what that way of voting would be, he also declined, and then just turned his head and refused to engage in the conversation anymore.
Delegates have reported to us that Obama supporters are stationed outside of each delegation’s room with clipboards, ready to make sure that once again, despite their best efforts to represent their constituents (approximately 12,000 voters per delegate in the case of primaries, and 585 in the case of caucuses), that Hillary delegates and voters are ROBBED of their democratic rights.
As recently as this afternoon, we knew that the hotel vote would take place in each delegation on Wednesday morning, and that Hillary would have a special luncheon with her delegates at 1pm. Rumor had it that she might release her delegates then.
However, we have an unconfirmed report coming from someone inside the Pepsi Center that Hillary Clinton will make a special announcement tonight during her speech. Although I’m ever the optimist, call me paranoid: Will she try to pre-empt this grassroots effort by releasing her delegates tonight?
I can’t even imagine the pressure she is under by party leadership. We even heard that President Clinton’s speech would not be televised live in prime time.
Oh my, is the DNC running scared or what? We need divine intervention. If you’re a praying person, give it your all.
[cross posted from The Confluence.]
Lady Boomer NYC 
Hillary is still my candidate! I feel betrayed by the “Democratic Elite Club” and I will never vote for Obama. For the first time in my life, I’m considering Ralph Nader!
Hillarys convention speech was pure proof of here ability to
be in charge of this country. Not that we needed more proof,
but those who denied her her rights and denied me my rights have also decide who I shall vote for and it won’t be Obama.
“I WILL ABSOLUTELY VOTE FOR JOHN McCAIN.”
Also, would put more blame on the state of our country on
Ms. Nancy Pelosi then on Bush and CO.. CHANGE IS WHAT SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR and could have started with impeachment, but all of her energy has gone into making sure
that Hillary was not the nominee. Hillary is brilliant and Pelosi is dumber then Bush. With Hillary in office Ms. Nancy would feel powerless.
Elaine,
Hillary is still my candidate too. And the most effective way to get her into the presidency is to vote McCain in the general election, not Ralph Nadar – or anyone else. If Obama wins, he and Dean/Pelosi/Brazile et al will govern us from on high for eight terrible years and the 2017 election will be a more corrupt version of the 2008 election. This group will take as much as we let them get away with.
We need to stop this rot in our Party at its source – right now. Do not vote FOR McCain, just VOTE McCain. He’ll defeat Obama and that will be the end of Barack. This will allow the centrists in the Democratic Party to reclaim leadership (led by Hillary) and they will clean house of Dean/Pelosi/Brazile and company in January 2009.
McCain will be a lame duck, one term president hamstrung by a strong Democratic Majority in Congress. He will not be able to fund his wars or get a conservative confirmed to the Supreme Court – the Democratic Majority will be in a firm position to stop him by withholding approval.
THEN, in 2012, we can have an ethical, fair election run by Democratic centrists who WILL nominate Hillary Clinton as our Presidential nominee.
You do not have to compromise yourself by accepting McCain’s terrible positions on the issues. You do not even have to vote in protest. Simply look at a McCain vote as a strategy to get Hillary elected in 2012.
Keep in mind that four years of a hamstrung McCain is safer than eight years of Barack Obama and company unleashed.
You assume Barack would win again in 8 years. I believe he would lose, but not before he (and Pelosi co.) have mutated all the Democratic processes into similar circus acts like this years DNC convention.
A vote for anyone but McCain could put Obama in the white house. Here in Illinois I checked, and a write in vote goes directly to Obama.
Splits usually have better results, so a vote for the independent candidate might not get Obama elected. But the safe way is to vote McCain.
You have to realize that voting for McCain is the only way to keep the Democratic party safe. If Obama gets elected, I don’t think he is going to address any democratic core issues. I believe he will be the icing on the cake that takes the country on an even deeper slide into oblivion.
At least McCain should be able to work between the executive and legislative branches to actually make some changes.
See bully’s, cheaters and dishonest people always end up paying one way or another…”what goes around comes around”
One must play by the rules or sooner or later no one will want to play with you. No one wants to join in and play with Obama..not then, not now..He and the DNC forced him on us as the Democratic nominee, we were raped again, but, we do NOT have to accept him as our President and we will not.
We will vote for the other person with integrity and perseverance to do her best and do it without cheating or special treatment…we will vote for Senator McCain…
I think Osama fits him well…a candidate holding his concert in a stadium as if he has it in the bag…ROCK STAR….”THE ONE” appearing at …this guy thinks he is The Messiah…he did say “We are the ones we have been waiting for” I have no idea what the heck that means unless he is trying to send some subliminal message to the black community to lead them to believe he is going to be their saviour…it’s so sad to use people this way…they believe him and he doesn’t care about them..he runs with Oprah