Good call by the Obama campaign.
On Friday, the Obama campaign confirmed that the floor vote in Denver, intended to assuage Clinton supporters still stewing over her narrow loss, will be conducted as a state-by-state roll call. Under proposed convention bylaws, delegates would be forced to register their votes on a tally sheet with the convention secretary — the rules could be altered or suspended before the start of the convention.
…Lower-key options were available. For example, Clinton’s name could have been entered into nomination, followed by laudatory speeches, ending with her release of delegates to Obama and proposal that he be nomination by acclamation, Seyfang said.
If the roll call vote was going to happen, I felt two things had to occur: Obama himself had to announce his support for the idea right off the bat, and the vote tally would have to be verified in advance. It appears that’s exactly what is happening.
For many of us, supporting the idea of a roll call vote for Clinton could not have had less to do with those groups who wish to disrupt the convention and disunify the party. It’s always been about doing right thing. And fortunately, doing the right thing has its own inherent and unifying benefits.
Imagine for a moment what will occur when the roll call is complete: After receiving an extensive ovation that rattles the foundation of the Pepsi Center, Hillary will thank her supporters and throw her entire support behind Barack Obama in what is sure to be a barnburner of a speech that won’t be soon forgotten. You simply can’t force the kind of unity that will result from this chain of events. It could end up being the most powerful, and most important, moment of the entire convention.
The Politico article seems mostly concerned about how many superdelegates will vote for Clinton, but the roll call isn’t about the them. Plenty of former Clinton superdelegates will understandably vote for the presumptive nominee and I can’t imagine Hillary objecting, as she will be voting for Obama herself. The floor vote is happening for the benefit of her many pledged delegates in the room and her 18 million voters across the country, who will have the celebration and catharsis needed to close the book on the deadlocked primary season and win in November.
And for all those still hoping for chaos…dream on.
Obama’s decision to accept a roll call vote, which came after weeks of talks with the Clinton camp, doesn’t mean he’ll let the process get out of hand, observers say. “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.”
Make no mistake…even with a state-by-state roll call vote for Obama’s relentless primary opponent, the convention will remain tightly-orchestrated political theater. But the third act just got a lot more exciting.
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