Democratic Party leaders scrambled on Monday night to rescue their convention from political bedlam as supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders erupted in boos, jeers and protests against Hillary Clinton after an email leak showed that party officials had sought to undermine Sanders in their race for the nomination.
Convention organizers shifted Sanders to a more prominent speaking slot in hopes that he would soothe his most ardent backers. Those supporters have become increasingly frustrated with the party’s embrace of Clinton, whom they see as too accommodating to big business and Republicans.
Sanders did his best to promote unity, but he said no one is more disappointed than he is over not being the Democratic presidential nominee. But the Vermont senator urged his supporters to take “enormous pride” in the political revolution to transform America that they’ve started.
Sanders noted in his speech that election days come and go. But, he said, “the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent — a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice —that struggle continues.”
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He emphasized that he has about 1,900 delegates who will vote for him in tonight’s roll call of the states for the presidential nomination. And he recounted that he received 13 million votes, 46 percent of the total cast in Democratic primaries and caucuses.
Sanders himself sent a text message imploring his delegates, “as a personal courtesy to me, to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor.” The Clinton and Sanders operations also combined their teams on the convention floor to coordinate appeals to delegates who might be disruptive.
The tension reverberated from the floor of the hall to the stage. The outbursts had turned so loud and persistent at one point that comedian Sarah Silverman scolded the Sanders supporters who were shouting over her remarks.
“Can I just say to the Bernie-or-bust people,” she said, adopting their own nickname, “you are being ridiculous.”
Clinton campaign officials, in another bid to placate the party’s left wing, picked Sen. Elizabeth Warren to deliver the keynote address on Monday night, hoping that her searing denunciations of Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, would unify the delegates in the hall. Clinton had privately chosen Warren days ago, campaign officials said, but announced her on Monday morning to try to set a positive tone for the first day of the convention and start closing ranks for the fight against Trump.
Throughout the day, more than 1,000 supporters of Sanders took to the scalding streets of Philadelphia to vent their frustration. Some targeted Clinton with a taunting chant from last week’s Republican convention: “Lock her up!” Other protesters gathered outside the downtown Ritz-Carlton, where many major donors to Clinton’s campaign were staying, and attacked her use of a super PAC and her reliance on six-figure fundraising events.
Even Sanders, who has vowed to do whatever it takes to stop Trump from winning in November, had little luck making the case to his followers that they should vote for Clinton. In a rare display of rebellion at a lunchtime gathering of his delegates, he was drowned out by boos when he mentioned Clinton, and seemed jarred by the response.
“We have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Sanders said to a round of jeers.
Over chants of “We want Bernie,” he added: “This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue.”
Several veterans of Democratic conventions said they had not seen anything at recent gatherings like Monday’s disruptions. From the moment the gavel fell to open the convention at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday afternoon, Sanders’ supporters let out boos and jeers at almost any mention of Clinton’s name.
Sanders supporters directed their fury most intensely at Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the departing Democratic National Committee chairwoman, as she spoke to Florida delegates on Monday morning. Hopes that Wasserman Schultz’s decision on Sunday afternoon to resign would calm nerves were dashed as she publicly addressed her delegation at breakfast. Among those who believed for months that she was rigging the nominating fight, nothing would be forgiven so quickly.
They booed, loudly, and screamed “fair elections” as Wasserman Schultz took the lectern and said: “It is so wonderful to be able to be here with my home state. All right, everybody, now, settle down. Everybody settle down, please.”
They refused.
Clinton’s campaign and her allies were not caught completely unaware by the hostile reception. Even though Wasserman Schultz announced under pressure on Sunday that she would resign after the convention, she had hoped to still gavel the convention in on Monday. But, recognizing that she would be booed, she abandoned her plans to fulfill even that ceremonial role.
And the committee released a statement on Monday, signed by an array of party leaders but not Wasserman Schultz, offering “a deep and sincere apology to Sen. Sanders, his supporters and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email.”
First lady’s speech
First lady Michelle Obama delivered a powerful character witness on behalf of the Democratic Party's nominee, Hillary Clinton, and urged her party to not be complacent.
“I'm here because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility and only one person who is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton,” Obama said. “I want someone who has the proven strength to persevere.”
Obama warned that the party must work as hard as they did to elect her husband four and eight years ago to elect Clinton.
“In this election, we cannot sit back and hope that everything works out for the best,” Obama said. “We cannot afford to be tired or frustrated or cynical.”
Protest action
Among other convention-related developments:
▪ Former Vice President Al Gore confirmed that he is not attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. Spokeswoman Betsy McManus told The Tennessean newspaper that Gore has “obligations in Tennessee,” but she did not elaborate.
▪ Among tonight’s highlights will be a speech from former President Bill Clinton, revered as a party hero by most delegates. The mothers of several men and women who died in police custody or as a result of police action will also give prime-time speeches.
The pinnacle of the evening will be the roll call of the states, which will result in Hillary Clinton’s formal nomination.
Staff writer John Gravois contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram Washington Bureau, The Associated Press, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
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