Ohio delegates want Obama to pick Clinton as his vice presidential mate
By JACK TORRY
WASHINGTON — To the disappointed Ohio delegates pledged to Democrat Hillary Clinton, the decision by Barack Obama to allow a vote on her nomination at the party’s national convention next week in Denver is a good start.
But those interviewed by The Columbus Dispatch in the past few days say if Obama really wants to unify the party and win the key states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, he should do what most concede he won’t: Choose Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.
“It’s hard for me to understand why Obama would fear that,” said Billie Brandon, 59, a Clinton delegate from Mansfield. “Why not take advantage of her knowledge and experience?”
Terry Carson, 57, a Clinton delegate from Bainbridge Township in Geauga County, said Obama “would have a much easier time capturing the presidency if he had Hillary Clinton on the ticket. Her supporters would re-energize his campaign. It would be a pretty dramatic team.”
But with Clinton delegates acknowledging that Obama almost certainly will choose another Democrat, they head to the Democratic National Convention ready to switch their allegiance to Obama — some with enthusiasm, others with reluctance.
And at least one who is not ready to back Obama.
“I don’t like Obama, to tell you the truth,” said Sandra Cleary, 58, a delegate from Wooster. “He doesn’t have any experience, and I just don’t think he knows what he’s doing. I don’t like the way she was treated, and I don’t like the way Bill Clinton was treated. They tried to make him out as a racist, and he’s not like that.”
But most of the Clinton delegates are ready to line up behind Obama.
Melanie Falls, 57, from Walton Hills in suburban Cleveland, admits Clinton’s defeat “was disappointing to all of us who supported her. However, I think we must have a unified party in order to take back the White House.”
Erin Sullivan Lally, 42, from Cleveland, acknowledged she has doubts about Obama, saying she has “strong feelings about his experience and his ability to win in November.” But she said he “can count on my vote.”
By contrast, Caroline Gross, 30, of Columbus, has had no difficulty making the move to back Obama. She said “they were both really great candidates. It wasn’t a huge disappointment to transfer my loyalties from Clinton to Obama.”
Obama and Clinton announced Thursday that her name would be placed in nomination during the convention.
That would allow her delegates to call out her name in a symbolic gesture, even though Obama would still have enough delegates for the nomination.
“I think this is going to go a long way to clean up the ill will some of the delegates are feeling,’” said Kevin Malecek, 28, a Willoughby Hills city councilman.
Sandra Anderson, 57, a lawyer from Dublin, said that “placing her name in nomination is a terrific decision, and it will help those of us who worked their hearts out for Hillary Clinton to at least have that historic moment recognized.”
Peggy Tanksley, 51, from New Philadelphia, said that after a roll-call vote “everyone can walk out of the hall and say it’s done and let’s get the work done.”
Ruby Gilliam, 85, from Minerva in Northeast Ohio, predicted that the emotion of the Clinton delegates would sweep the convention hall during the roll-call vote, predicting that if Obama hasn’t already picked his vice presidential candidate, “I think Hillary will be his running mate.”
Even that symbolic move may not be enough. Brandon warned that if Democrats “don’t work this out, it will hurt us in the fall.” She pointed to a close Democratic friend of hers who has said she will not back Obama.
“Unless they can figure out a way to pull that together, I am worried about Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida.”
Others sound an even more pessimistic note. Tanksley, who works for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, acknowledged that “it will be a tough sell” for Obama in Ohio.
“We might just pull it off. I think with enough work, we can do it.”
But then she added, “I wouldn’t put my paycheck on it right now.”
jtorry@dispatch.com
XDispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland contributed to this story.