Obama, Clinton camps working on hotel roll-call vote

Denver Post ^ | 8/26/2008 | Chuck Plunkett, Allison Sherry and Kimberly Johnson

[mojito]

Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton furiously circulated petitions on the floor of the Democratic National Convention last nigh, hoping to stave off a plan to hold the convention's roll call at breakfast Wednesday — out of the public eye — sources inside the delegations said.

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.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a former state co-chair for Clinton said she knows the camps are in negotiations about what to do.

"My view is we need to come together as a party," DeGette said. "I admire Hillary Clinton greatly, but I think it would be divisive to have a vote on the floor. We need to have a unanimous vote."

The evening event would call on the delegation from Illinois, which Obama serves as the junior senator, and then move to New York, which Clinton represents.

After New York delegates applaud Clinton's long-fought and historic candidacy, a motion would be made to accept the votes cast at breakfast.

The move is being resisted by some Clinton delegates, who are busy tonight circulating a petition among delegates as the opening night of the convention, titled "One Nation," gets underway.

"We just want a roll call like you're supposed to have," said one of the delegates collecting signatures for the petition, who asked not to be named because of concern about friction within the party.

The Obama campaign denied that there would be a change.

"This is not true," Jennifer Backus, a senior advisor, said in an email in response to a question about the negotiations for the roll call change.

David Harper of Macon County, Tenn., signed a petition to ensure a floor vote in the hall surrounding the Pepsi Center.

"I came out here by God to vote for her, and I'm going to do it," Harper said, visibly angry about the news.

Kelly Jacobs a die-hard Clinton supporter from Hernando, Miss., an area that went heavily for Clinton, stood in the hall collecting signatures. She said the Clinton backers need 800 to secure a floor vote.

Anything less than that, Jacobs said, would be an insult to her candidate.

"I could have voted from home," Jacobs said. "She is our captain. We don't want to see her disrespected."

She was furious, she said, when she learned this morning that the votes may be held at the delegate hotels instead of on the convention hall floor.

"That's not what we learned in civics class," Jacobs said.

Texas delegate Tory Lauterbach said she has heard about the petition, but is unsure if she will sign it.

"I think the votes should be cast and counted the way they have been historically," she said. "But I don't think every delegate needs to stand and say something. I want a good convention."

So does Sally Phillips of Tampa, Fla. She said that although she is a Clinton supporter, she will undoubtedly support Obama because she doesn't want another Republican in the White House.

"I think the world of her," Phillips said. "I've seen the petition but I'm not going to focus on that."

The discussions come after a long summer in which Clinton delegates have argued for a chance to be heard during the convention. The party wants unity, and the announcement made by Obama and Clinton last week that a floor vote would occur was meant to provide that opportunity.

[cubreporter]

Very interesting indeed.