WASHINGTON — As a key Democratic National Committee panel voted to give half weight to delegates from Florida and Michigan, Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter Debbie Weihl wiped tears.
“It’s a very sad day for this country,” said Weihl, 56, of Pennsylvania. “I’m utterly disappointed with the whole process. Everything this country used to stand for is gone.”
Clinton supporters who had traveled from across the country and protested outside earlier in the day gathered around televisions inside the Marriott Wardman hotel as the DNC panel voted. They denounced the results and joined in shouts of “Denver, Denver,” from supporters in the ballroom who want Clinton to fight the outcome all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28.
“During slavery you got three-fifths of a vote,” said Carla Salinas, 55, of San Antonio. “And they’re going to give half a vote. Unbelievable.”
Many said they would back presumed Republican nominee John McCain rather than Barack Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination.
“For the first time in my life, I’ll vote for a Republican,” said Sandy Perry, 62, of Pennsylvania. “I just don’t think it’s right the way she’s been treated.”
Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who previously supported Clinton but now supports Obama, said Clinton supporters can be brought into the fold if Obama becomes the nominee.
If Hillary and Bill Clinton say, ” ‘Support Obama,’ that’s it,” Conyers said. It would be “more than enough” to persuade current Clinton supporters.
Even so, several Clinton backers at the meeting said they won’t vote for the junior Illinois senator.
BettyJean Kling, 60, of Pennsylvania said those who say Clinton supporters will vote Democratic if Obama wins believe “we’ll come home with our tails between our legs in November.”
Kling shouted an expletive, then said, “We’re not battered women, and we’re not coming home.”
With tears streaming down her face, she said, “We have been disenfranchised, and we are not going to vote for the Democratic Party.”
Earlier in the day, Clinton supporter Greta Scriboni, 52, said that she wanted Democrats to pick their candidate at the national convention in Denver this August. She said party insiders known as superdelegates who cast a vote for a nominee should not pick until the convention.
If the DNC does not allow Florida delegates to vote, she said, she’ll not only vote for McCain, she’ll campaign for him.
For Scriboni’s husband, Vince, 52, that’s a good thing. He’s a Republican. As he filled out a crossword puzzle in the bar while his wife listened to the DNC proceedings, Vince Scriboni said, “It’s going to divide the party and help the Republicans.”
And that was just the scene that unfolded outside the meeting room with Obama and Clinton supporters shouting at one another.
“This has been a close race, and everyone has deeply held feelings about their candidate,” said convention chief executive Leah Daughtry. “That’s a good thing. Look, it’s going to take time, but I think our desire to win in November will trump individual feelings about a candidate.”
