Recently it was announced, that Hillary Clinton's name would be placed in nomination at the Democratic National Committee. To many it is considered a mere formality to appease her supporters, but questions abound regarding how many votes she will get.
"I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion," said Senator Barack Obama.
Senator Obama's campaign encouraged Senator Clinton's name to be placed in nomination as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation's primary contests.
"With every voice heard and the Party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama President of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again," said Senator Hillary Clinton.
Today The Politico reports that Representative Loretta Sanchez predicts that Hillary Clinton may earn as many as half the votes from House Democrats like herself, which if she is correct could mean that neither Obama nor Clinton would earn enough to named the official nominee on the first round of balloting.
Sanchez tells reporters, “I believe there are a lot of supporters for Hillary among the superdelegates, especially now that they’ve agreed to place her name in nomination. I think half the House Democrats would probably be Hillary supporters, especially women. ... I felt she was the most experienced and the best candidate and I still feel that way.”
Other former Clinton supporters do not plan on switching back to Clinton for the symbolic vote as evidenced by Representative Anthony Weiner who states, "I made my decision for Obama, and I’m not switching again.”
The popular line of thought from political pundits is that adding Clinton's name would give all delegates a chance to vote as they would have had no one been named the Democratic presumptive nominee, thereby allowing each "voice" to be heard, then Clinton would officially release her delegates and on the second round of balloting, Barack Obama would be named the official nominee for the Democratic party.
Many are criticizing this "symbolic" vote, while Hillary supporters are hailing it as a victory.
The floor vote will be done as a state-by-state roll call which means whether they want to or not, each delegate will have to cast their vote by adding it to the tally sheet with the convention secretary, unless the convention rules are altered or changed before the vote occurs.
One person criticizing this decision is a former delegate counter Matt Seyfang, who states, "By putting her name in nomination, you're putting people on the spot. Having a roll call ... just chews into your broadcast time.”
There are many lines of thought at play from a variety of different people.
One is that this will promote party unity as Obama is hoping it will by giving Clinton supporters their moment to show loyalty to Clinton and then everybody can rally around Obama voting for him in the second round of balloting as the official nominee.
Some strategists disagree and think that this may backfire against the party by highlighting the divisions within.
Another strategist believes this could backfire against Hillary Clinton by showing that "her influence is waning".
Still others say they are caught and conflicted as to what they should do as one staffer for a New York House member claims that there is also anger at Clinton for putting them in a position of having to make the choice.
Still another that spoke on the condition of anonymity predicted that Clinton will receive 30 to 40 percent of the New York delegates.
“The convention is about nominating Barack, so his people want to speed through the vote as fast as possible so it won’t take too much TV time,” said a Democratic delegate who plans to vote for Clinton. “They also want to avoid a scenario where she’s leading at any point.”
Speculation abounds but one thing is definite at this point and that is that Hillary is still in the game even if it is simply symbolic and that her supporters, which are having public parades and rallies during the convention, will see to it that the focus is not only on Obama but that Hillary receives as much attention as they can give her publicly.
You have to hand it to Hillary Clinton diehard supporters. They fought hard to have her name placed in nomination, they are fiercely loyal and somewhere, even if it is just in the her private moments, Hillary must be smiling.
It stands to reason that this might earn Obama a few additional voters, but for those that are not refusing to vote for Obama because they are "angry" or "bitter" but are instead stating their reason as his inexperience, his betrayals and his associations.... well, if they truly believe that, then they shouldn't be asked to put party over country and should vote their conscience.
It is their vote and they are entitled to vote for whom they choose.
.
