Is Something Rotten In The State Of The Democratic Party?

Thursday, August 7, 2008 | 4:20 PM

By Sarah Scully

Recent word from Hillary Clinton’s office urging a full vote of all delegates at the convention have sparked an abundance of headlines suggesting that her campaign may not be dead. Clinton has explained that the vote will serve as a catharsis for her supporters, giving them emotional clearance to move on to Senator Obama, once their voices have been heard. Supporting this is the fact that counting every delegate at the convention, even though a nominee has been selected, is part of a long held party tradition of acknowledging the also-rans and demonstrating respect for the democratic process. Obama has even joined her in asking for all of the delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated. He has also released a statement assuring that there is no cause for alarm. To Clinton’s point, there are still a number of her supporters who are dissatisfied with the nominating process and are threatening to vote for McCain. However, there are also a lot of Democrats who were turned off by the aggressive (some would say racially polarizing) manner in which the Clintons campaigned and are unconvinced of their sincerity- especially after the senator’s reference to the RFK assassination and seeming reticence to concede the nomination. As a result, a small wave of panic is rippling through the party, carrying fears that Clinton could be planning a convention coup. Though it is unclear as of yet whether she will even be on the ballot, Obama supporters are already voicing concern that staging a floor vote will wreak havoc and telegraph disorganization and lack of unity.
A lack of cohesion is something Republicans have already begun to exploit.

Though Clinton may be ruffling as many feathers as she smoothes, an all out battle is highly unlikely. Even her detractors acknowledge her skill as a politician. She is almost certainly aware that any effort to wrest the nomination from such a popular public figure would invite a potentially fatal backlash.