LAT: Clinton's supporters vent their frustration
They descend on Washington as the Democratic Party considers whether to restore convention delegates that had been stripped from Michigan and Florida.
By Faye Fiore, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 31, 2008
....Outside the stately Marriott Wardman Park Hotel were clusters of women with "Hear Me Roar" placards in their fists who came in from all over the country -- $4 a gallon be damned -- to make what could be a last stand for their Hillary. Inside was a ballroom filled with suits looking for a "dignified and high-minded resolution" to a problem that threatened to fracture a Democratic Party that should be in the driver's seat en route to the White House, but was instead preparing to throw one of its two remaining rock-star candidates under the bus....
A civil war, that's how it felt. Democrat against Democrat. Not long ago, they were united in the cause to wrest the White House from the Bush legacy, end the war, stop global warming, empower the middle class. And now, many of them were so mad they said they planned to defect from their party for the first time ever -- if Hillary Rodham Clinton were not the nominee....
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From outside, it was clear that the suits inside needed to find some way to count the votes. If not, a bunch of irritated Democratic women in two key swing states might stay home in November, or worse, cast their lot with Republican John McCain....The only truly fair way to settle this thing was to turn back the clock five months -- Austin Powers style. But that wasn't going to happen.
So, these women climbed in buses and in their cars and came to fight. Clinton's campaign didn't organize it but didn't dissuade them; Barack Obama's camp discouraged its supporters from demonstrating, mindful not to offend Hillaryites they hope will come their way by the time Nov. 4 rolls around. Judging by the anger index out there today, that wasn't going to happen any time soon. They felt robbed -- by Obama, the Democratic National Committee, but mostly the media....
Emotions were running high and understandably so. Over the last 17 months, these women, who had once called their field of candidates an embarrassment of riches, had chosen one and fallen in love -- hard....
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"What will I tell my daughter?" she asked, beads of sweat from the Washington humidity trickling down her face, colliding with a couple of tears.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scene1-2008jun01,0,7743747.story