DENVER
IT’S Barack Obama‘s convention, but Hillary Clinton‘s die-hard supporters won’t give up the ghost. And, for all her talk of unity last night, her virtuoso performance will probably embolden them.
They’re known as PUMAs – Party Unity, My Ass – and they’re acting like renegade Japanese soldiers after World War II, squirreled away in bunkers and plotting guerilla attacks.
On the convention floor, Hillary buttons on delegates seem almost as prevalent as Obama paraphernalia. On the streets of Denver, the Obamafest is occasionally disturbed by roving bands of alleged Hillary supporters, including one white Hummer with Colorado plates hanging Hillary-McCain signs out the window and slogans written on its side “Yes, We Can: Plagiarize and Lie” and “Obama’s a fake – No-bama.”
Last night’s prime-time Hillary speech was a chance for the faithful to hear their leader deliver an old-fashioned pant-suit barn-burner. But today is their D-Day, when the PUMAs are demanding a roll-call vote to honor her effort.
I’m told that former Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams orchestrated a roll-call-vote rehearsal in a hotel on Monday, with the intention of cutting short the process once Hillary’s votes were honored. But the hardcore PUMAs plan to do their best to disrupt Obama’s nomination altogether.
“There’s still a slim chance that Hillary could walk away as the nominee,” leading PUMA Will Bower told Fox’s Chris Wallace from the convention yesterday, “that’s what we’re fighting for.” The rank and file are following suit. “We have received instructions from the Hillary people to vote for Hillary the first time. Then vote as our conscience dictates,” reads one PUMA Web posting. “Which for most of us means – Hillary again and again.”
The PUMAs’ online world is a hothouse of intrigue: One site accuses the Obama camp of “fraud, death threats and disgusting intimidation tactics – all perpetrated by the most conscience-free band of cultists in the history of the Democratic Party.” They’ve cultivated a cottage industry of hatred for Obama that brings to mind Rush Limbaugh in the heyday of the Bill Clinton impeachment.
PUMAs come in two breeds: the loyal Hillary supporters (essentially sober, conservative Democrats who believe that she was more the experienced candidate in a time of war) and the unhinged Obama-haters. Both types can inflict damage on the party this year.
“The PUMAs can’t deny Obama the nomination,” says longtime Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh, “but they can cost him the election.”
The McCain campaign sure hopes so. And most analysts see the recent tightening-up of the race as having more to do with rising doubts about Obama than any renewed appreciation of John McCain‘s political profile in courage.
As the courting dance for crossover votes reaches new intensity, we get the bizarre spectacle of Republicans showing newfound empathy for Hillary Clinton. “Debra,” a new McCain ad, features Debra Bartoshevich, a defecting Hillary delegate. The 41-year- old ER nurse switches a Hillary sign for McCain sign and gives permission for others to do the same: “A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It’s OK, really.”
McCain’s newest ad actually features Clinton questioning Obama’s readiness for the office while praising McCain.
The wounds from which Barack Obama is now bleeding – the charges that he’s an inexperienced, liberal elitist – were inflicted by the Clinton campaign in the later primaries.
So now the question is whether the Clintons can (or will) heal those wounds and defang the PUMAs. They’ve been saying the right words about uniting around Team Obama (well, mostly, in Bill’s case), but the passion has been lacking. Widespread reports speak of behind-the-scenes staff power struggles. Clinton campaign manager and former DNC Chairman Terry McCauliffe is leaving Denver before Obama’s speech on Thursday – and now Bill may join him.
The Obamas have been trying to bridge this divide. On Monday, Michelle Obama honored Hillary Clinton by name. The Clintons have been given not one, but two, prime-time speaking roles during the convention. But there’s so far little sign that these efforts have helped heal the bitter feelings.
And as she took the podium, resplendent in orange, the question remained: Would Hillary deliver? Because she needed to make it crystal clear to the PUMAs: Do not derail the Democrats or vote for John McCain – not in my name.
Instead, Hillary gave a virtuoso performance that seemed designed to remind the convention that she is the rock star in this party. Take out the obligatory references to Obama sprinkled throughout, and the speech could have been her acceptance address.
It was if she wanted to inspire a bit of buyer’s remorse – with the warranty offer that she owns Hillary2012.com
Hillary’s crescendo last night may provide catharsis for her supporters, but it’s more likely to leave the PUMAs reading new meaning into Clinton’s Fleetwood Mac anthem – “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”
John P. Avlon is the author of “Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics.”