Dem convo, Day 2: Are the Clintons ready?
Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:12 AM by Domenico Montanaro
With Hillary Clinton giving tonight’s primetime speech, today’s coverage is dominated by Clinton-Obama rift stories. The Los Angeles Times: "The big question of the presidential election, says L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, is not whether America is ready for a black president. Rather, he asks, ‘Are the Clintons ready?’
More: "Instead, in interviews with delegates and aides to the rival camps, it was clear Monday that tensions have only swelled since the heat of a primary competition fraught with racial, gender and generational differences. Obama backers are frustrated that the Clintons do not seem willing to let go of their 16-year dominance of the Democratic Party, while Clinton aides complained privately that the young presumed nominee is not paying them proper respect -- a tension heightened by the revelation that Obama never seriously considered his rival as a running mate."
But the Washington Post’s Ann Kornblut writes that Clinton knew she wasn’t being seriously considered for the No.2 slot. “In a private meeting with Sen. Barack Obama after she conceded the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made a request: that he consider her for his vice presidential running mate, but not put her through the charade of being vetted if he was not serious. Obama told Clinton then it was unlikely he would choose her, people familiar with the conversation said. Obama did not want to lead her on and, after campaigning against her for more than a year, already had a sense that their pairing would not be the right fit.”
The New York Times’ Healy compares the struggles facing the Kennedy family (personal) vs. the Clinton family (political). "As one political dynasty was celebrating its legacy and ceding the political stage on Monday night, the other dominant family of the Democratic Party was struggling to protect its legacy and accept its own exit from the spotlight. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton had once hoped this convention would be theirs, an exultation of past and future Clinton White Houses. Instead, they were coming face to face with shrunken, supporting roles."
Is Marie Cocco in the Washington Post right? Hillary can't win tonight? "Hillary Clinton will be damned if she looks too methodically perfect, too much the purveyor of practiced routine and not enough the cheery personification of enthusiasm. She'll also be damned if she's too exuberant, too obviously raising her voice in unbridled exhortation for the team. She will either be deemed too cool or all-too-cagily warm."
Below are some bullet points for a few of tonight’s marquee speakers:
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
-- Clinton won more than 18 million votes in the ultra-competitive primary against Barack Obama.
-- She won 1,645 delegates to Obama’s 1,765. (At last count, Obama had 401 superdelegates to Clinton’s 291. More on the counts here.
-- Clinton grew up in a solidly Republican Chicago suburb. Once a Goldwater Girl, she switched parties in the late 1960s. During the primary, Clinton had a knack for taking on the image of several states -- in Indiana, grew up next door; in Indiana, spent part of her youth in Scranton.
-- Her 1969 college commencement speech was mentioned in Life magazine.
-- Failed Washington, D.C., bar exam.
-- In 1972, Bill and she ran McGovern's presidential campaign in Texas; in 1974, worked for the House Judiciary Committee's special counsel John Doar on the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
-- Named one of 100 Most Influential lawyers by the National Law Journal.
-- In Arkansas, served on boards of Wal-Mart and TCBY.
-- In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray concluded Clinton gave factually false testimony in a sworn deposition, but declined to prosecute her, according to the 2008 Almanac of American Politics.
-- Her failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination was just her third run at public office, including her two successful bids for US Senate.
Mark Warner, keynote
-- The popular former Virginia governor and favored 2008 Virginia Senate candidate speaks on the same night as Hillary Clinton, and in 2006, he was considered the “anti-Hillary” presidential candidate before he decided not to run. He was featured as such on the cover of The New York Times magazine that year.
-- He also raised questions on Hillary’s ability to be competitive nationwide in 2006. "I think Senator Clinton can be competitive across the country, but I think one of the things we as a party are going to have to do is look at the ideas on how we get the country back on the right track… We need to not simply look at the personality, but look at the ideas. But I find all across the country there is a real sense that what we as Democrats have to do is not simply be competitive in 16 or 17 states, but actually have candidates that can win all across the country." (Sound familiar, anyone?)
-- Co-founder of the cell-phone company that eventually became Nextel, earning him a personal fortune upwards of $200 million. He’s known to joke on stage when a cell-phone interrupts his speeches, “Music to my ears.”
-- Ran unsuccessfully against John Warner for the Senate in 1996, but the race was closer than expected at 52%-47%.
-- The Christian Science Monitor profiles Warner before he keynotes today’s speech.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS)
-- Her father, John Gilligan, was the Democratic governor of Ohio from 1971 to 1975; her father-in-law, meanwhile, was a Republican member of Congress.
- -First daughter of a governor to be elected governor of a state.
- -Traveled to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China as governor.
-- Chose a Republican as her gubernatorial running mate in 2002, and replaced him (he had planned to step down) with Mark Parkinson, the former state GOP chair, who switched his registration to Democrat one day before Sebelius made the announcement.
-- Ranked as one of America's five best governors by Time magazine in 2005.
-- Chaired the Democratic Governors Association in 2007.
-- After a tornado struck town of Greensburg in 2007, suggested the National Guard was under-equipped because of the resources going to the Iraq war.
-- Mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in 2010.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
-- Father Bob Sr., who was anti-abortion rights as is his son, was denied a speaking role at the 1992 convention reportedly by Clinton for wanting to speak on abortion. The Clintons said at the time it was because he didn’t initially support the Clinton-Gore ticket.
-- Similarly in the 2008 race, Casey bucked the Clintons by endorsing Obama before the Pennsylvania primary.
-- Taught fifth grade and coached eighth-grade basketball in Philadelphia before getting his law degree from Catholic University.
