For Clinton, A Big Speech Two Days Early

Former Democratic Frontrunner's Role Tonight Is To Bring Her Supporters On Obama Bandwagon

by Erin McPike and Megan Scully

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008


It's not the speech she wanted to give, and it comes two days earlier than she wanted to give it, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's address to convention delegates tonight might go a long way toward determining the outcome of a presidential race she once thought was hers for the taking.

Clinton's assignment is to not only embrace the presidential candidacy of her former foe, Sen. Barack Obama, but to convince millions of her primary supporters to climb aboard the Obama bandwagon before November's election.

As some Clinton supporters plan to cast votes in her favor Wednesday night, Rep. Steve Israel of New York said this convention marks a sharp divergence from those in the past.
"Never before has how the loser of the convention loses been more important than how the winner wins," said Israel.

"Tonight, Hillary Clinton will show what she's made of," said Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. "And I have every confidence that she will show this country that for her, it's about America, and that means it has to be about Barack Obama. You cannot support Hillary Clinton and not understand that turning away from Barack Obama at this point is turning away from everything we believe in."

Clinton's speech comes on the second night of the Democratic convention that will also feature the keynote address by former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner. Obama used his keynote speech four years ago to vault into the Senate and onto the national stage and Warner, who is running for the Senate in November, clearly hopes to follow in his footsteps.

While police and protesters clashed again this morning, following about 100 arrests Monday night, much of the tension in Denver has been among inside the security perimeter, with some Clinton supporters unwilling to surrender without a roll call vote that would give them one last chance to ponder what might have been.

Representatives for Clinton and Obama are still working out details of Wednesday's nominating process, but it appears unlikely that Obama will -- as some of his supporters have pushed for -- be declared the party's nominee without the traditional roll call vote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chairwoman of the convention, has said she favors a roll call and is certain that Clinton's supporters will back Obama.

While that will certainly be the case among the party's convention delegates, there is less certainty beyond the Pepsi Center that Clinton's primary voters will follow the same script. The Republican National Committee, hoping to capitalize on that uncertainty, hosted a "Happy Hour For Hillary" Monday night in Denver. And the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., today released another ad today playing up Clinton's primary season comments that Obama was not as qualified to be president as she or McCain were. McCain's ad closes with a CNN clip of Clinton saying, "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Sen. Obama has a speech he gave." Then comes a voiceover, with the narrator saying, "Hillary's right. John McCain for president."

Just as Obama's historic acceptance speech Thursday will come on the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, Clinton's address will also come on the anniversary of a significant political milestone -- the 88th year since women were given the right the vote.

The speech is going to be about "why we [Democrats] have to win," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee and was an ardent Clinton backer in the primaries. "I think she's going to talk about the problems out there and what we need to do," she said.

Rep. Charles Rangel chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the dean of the New York delegation, said he believed Clinton would take the opportunity to reach out to her supporters and tell them that she understands that they might do "what makes them feel good." But the crux of the speech will be that Democrats must ultimately back Obama and that "we'll win this thing" in November, Rangel said.

Others said Clinton will use her primetime speech to illustrate precisely why her supporters should not vote for McCain. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said voting for McCain would be tantamount to electing President Bush for a third time.

That is a common talking point among top Democrats assembled here. Israel, slightly exaggerating the math, said Clinton could make her argument against McCain in five simple words -- "Five more years of Bush."

While Warner's speech is labeled the keynote address of the convention, he will clearly play second fiddle tonight. Even before uttering a word from the podium, Warner is coming under fire from some of the Democratic faithful in Denver. They are unhappy with his comments that he will use the speech to praise bipartisanship.

After a bruising primary fight between two candidates who would have represented historic firsts, these delegates are clearly bristling to take the fight to McCain and his Republican colleagues.

"I couldn't be prouder because we had the clash of two candidates over a long period of time in a very close election," McCaskill said. "It brought out participation. It brought out passion. It brought out commitment. And of course when you have a race like that, it's not always easy for everyone to fold in."

McCaskill has already folded in. Tonight, Clinton will do the same. The true measure of the impact of her speech -- the speech she didn't plan on having to give when she entered the race as the favorite for the Democratic nomination -- will be seen in whether the backers who are not with her in the Pepsi Center but are watching on television join her in backing Obama, jump to McCain or simply choose to stay home in November.

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