Not likely. The Village says she’s playing hardball with her convention role.
Sources close to both Obama and Clinton told ABC News that the New York senator is highly unlikely to allow her name to be formally submitted for a roll-call vote on the convention floor. The Obama campaign wants to avoid such a vote, since it would underscore the party’s splits and remind voters of the divisive primary campaign between the two Democrats.
The refusal to publicly announce her intentions is widely seen as a bargaining chip Clinton is holding on to as party officials negotiate logistics regarding her convention speech and other activities, according to several Democrats who are closely involved in the matter.
Clinton plans to hold a Web chat with supporters Thursday afternoon where she might clarify her convention role. In announcing the Web chat, she urged her supporters to continue to stay tuned to her Web site for updates about her convention activities.
But the very fact that details of her convention role remain unresolved less than three weeks before the Democrats descend upon Denver is a fresh sign of the difficulties the party will face at a convention when nearly half the delegates were chosen because of their support for a candidate who will not be the nominee.
History provides little guidance: In the modern convention era, the delegate count for the two leading candidates has never been this close.
Lanny Davis, a longtime friend and supporter of the Clintons, called the idea of putting Clinton’s name into nomination a “completely idiotic idea that leads to nothing but party disharmony.”
Still, the fact that some Clinton supporters are clamoring for a chance to vote for her at the convention is partly Obama’s fault, he said. Davis, who described himself as “100 percent behind Obama” in the general election, said Obama should be doing more — in symbolic and substantive gestures — to make clear he values and needs the support of former Clinton supporters.
“It’s a reflection of genuine frustration by Hillary Clinton supporters that Sen. Obama seems to have forgotten about 18 million voters,” Davis said. “My concern about Sen. Obama is he doesn’t recognize that the outreach to the Clinton grass roots has to be more visible, more overt, as well as more symbolic.”
The two camps have worked cooperatively on a draft of the party platform, and Clinton is set to hit the campaign trail for Obama on Friday, appearing by herself at an Obama event in Nevada.
The campaigns also issued a joint statement late today, reiterating that there is no division.
“We are working together to make sure the fall campaign and the convention are a success,” the joint statement said. “At the Democratic Convention, we will ensure that the voices of everyone who participated in this historic process are respected and our party will be fully unified heading into the November election.”
If this is an effort to satisfy Clintonistas and get them behind Obama, that’s one thing. But the Clintonistas aren’t behind Obama. They’re behind Hillary. And crap like this doesn’t help at all. Remember the goal and the implied threat here: Only Hillary Clinton can be Obama’s Veep, or 18 million voters will walk…honestly, how many Obama supporters would abandon him for McCain because of Hillary? As long as that number is less than 18 million, Hillary must be his VP.
Hillary could have stopped this at any point by saying “I have decided that the best possible thing I could do for my party right now is not to pursue being Obama’s running mate.” That’s it. What really sticks in my craw is the fact that the one person who could put an end to all this won’t do anything about it. Instead she’s telling Obama to kiss her ring, or she goes nuclear.
The message here is pretty clear. Hillary for VP or bust. And now that I think about it, Obama himself could end this by saying “No, Hillary is not on our list” and then Clinton would have to decide whether or not that party unity line she keeps spouting is the truth or not.
I reject Hillary as a Veep based on her record: For the Iraq War, Ffor torture, against FISA, and very much for going after Iran. Obama has enough of a Bush Enabler Problem since this June, Hillary on the ticket would be a disaster. It’s not like she would deliver red states, and she would just double down on the GOP talking point weaknesses. The wingnut conspiracy theories of them killing everybody and establishing a New World Order would be insane. “Vince Foster was killed because he secretly was in love with Reverend Wright!”
We need somebody as Veep that would reinforce Obama’s meesage of change. Hillary Clinton has her strengths, certainly. 18 million primary voters is nothing to sneeze at. But honestly, what does she bring to the ticket other than turmoil?
Also posted over at Zandar Versus The Stupid. Drop by, won’t you?