Soon, so soon, they will be here. Thousands of delegates, hundreds of campaign staffers, bunches of bloggers, and all of them potentially divided.
After more than a year and a half on the campaign trail, fueled by an unprecedented total half-billion dollars, worn by 16-hour- plus days on buses and planes to stadiums and churches and greasy spoons in every corner of the United States, teams Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama finally will come to town.
In but 101 days.
And if Democrats don’t use that time to figure out how to heal the wounds and bring the teams together for the teary-eyed, hearts- aflutter historic coronation that is supposed to be the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the audience will notice.
With more than 15,000 members of the media watching, with technology that makes amateur posting of images and videos to a worldwide audience instantaneous, the audience will notice.
“What has to happen is that all of us who are family members remain family members,” said Leah Daughtry, the chief executive for the Democratic National Convention Committee.
“That means respecting everyone and making sure everyone’s contributions are respected and honored and recognized and acknowledged,” Daughtry said. “And those are simple things to do. It doesn’t require a lot of the convention. It means you get a room. It means you get a credential. It means you get to participate.”
One side will have to let go
One central challenge, political experts say, is making sure the campaign staff and entourage of the loser feels as welcome as the that of the victor. To that end, DNCC staffers will work to accommodate both campaigns with hotels, transportation and all the perks.
Daughtry said she didn’t consider either side a “winner” or “loser,” but simply “members of the family” with a deep “desire to create change for our fellow Americans.”
Both campaigns are expected, she said, to stay at the headquarters hotel, the Hyatt Regency Denver. Details on size of the staffs that may be coming aren’t yet known. But housing the two campaigns in the same hotel isn’t all there is to it, experts say.
“Traditionally, candidates in these settings have had no problem mending the fences and having the photo opportunities,” said Chris Gates, Colorado’s Democratic Party chair in 2004, when the national party held its convention in Boston, and a veteran of conventions dating back to his youth. “But it’s the staff who sort of keep the campaign going, the shadow campaign going. They have a harder time letting these things go.”
Experts in politics expect the healing process to start much sooner than convention week, Aug. 25-28. In June, once the primaries are over, the hand-holding should commence.
“First of all, whatever unity occurs and that will occur must happen well before the convention,” said former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s and who managed the presidential campaign of George McGovern in 1972.
The common refrain is that the Democratic Party is energized and so wants to beat the presumptive Republican nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, that all intraparty bitterness will be forgotten.
Key campaign staff from the losing candidate usually is invited to join the victor. The superdelegates, many who are friends already, grin and rally. Pledged delegates are urged to switch camps.
“Appearances” matter
Challenges nevertheless exist.
Gates points to 2004. Colorado’s convention delegates included 14 who supported U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, though he had exited the race to support John Kerry.
The party wanted a unanimous floor vote for the Massachusetts senator to advance a united front. But Colorado’s Kucinich faithful were telling Gates early and often that they weren’t going to play ball.
Gates even brought Kucinich to a breakfast in Boston with the Colorado delegation, where the Ohioan urged the 14 to vote Kerry. On the floor, 13 stayed with Kucinich.
“The issue is one of appearances,” Gates said. “This year might be one of those where the first ballot is what it is and then the second is to be unanimous. . . . Those are the kind of strategic decisions the Obama camp and the Hillary camp are going to have to resolve.”
Theories on how to bring about the unity focus on what takes onstage at the Pepsi Center, the site of the convention hall, and outside at the many private parties and events.
“What do you do with Bill Clinton?” said Henry Brady, a political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who said this week he considers Hillary Clinton’s race now unwinnable.
“One of the arguments you could make is (the party) should sell how good the ’90s were,” Brady said, speaking of the strong economy that bubbled up during the Clinton administration. “And maybe that’s a way to make Hillary feel better. . . . That’s a way to bring in both Clintons and their entourage.”
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a national co-chair for the Clinton campaign, said Brady shouldn’t count the former first lady out.
Webb also expects the nominee to be clear before the convention and for the two sides to come together. To help heal wounds, he said, he’s throwing a party.
Along with the presidents of Denver’s convention host committee, Elbra Wedgeworth, and the City Council, Michael Hancock, Webb is hosting minority delegates, mayors and governors at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on the Tuesday night of the convention. The party will feature celebrities Pam Grier and Boyz II Men and basketball star Chauncey Billups.
“So a lot of the healing process will take place for those who are active,” Webb said. “The warriors. They will be getting ready to get together to fight against John McCain.”
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
