The Democratic National Convention theme is “United Together”. But united could be more a goal than a reality. On a blistering hot day, Bernie Sanders supporters were “Berning” over his calls to unite behind Hillary Clinton. And the Democratic National Committee chair who orchestrated the entire convention wasn’t there to gavel it to order. There’s nothing like an internal battle to get convention delegates fired up. NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz is standing by inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. He spoke with Anchor Mary Alice Williams.
Williams: Hi, David.
Cruz: Hi Mary Alice. It is the city of brotherly love but apparently still no love loss between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The New Jersey delegation is right behind me. I will just point out that they’re a little bit further away than they were during the Republican National Convention. The Republican National Convention they were a lot closer to the stage. As you say, the theme is unity and at least here in the New Jersey delegation, that process seems to already have begun:
Coming out of the sometimes fractious Republican Convention last week, the Democrats predicted a virtual love-in in the city of brotherly love. But, on day one of their convention, the Democrats were scrambling to put out fires after controversial email leaks forced the DNC chair to resign and supporters of Bernie Sanders took to the streets to voice their displeasure with a party system they see as — to coin a Trump phrase — rigged.
How can they fix all of that by Thursday?
“Well, it’s not fixable in one interview and it’s not fixable in one day but it is fixable over time and that’s what Sen. Sanders and Secretary Clinton are working to do,” said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, state chair of Sanders for President.
And the process begins here, at the delegation breakfast, where Democrats heard from former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New Jersey Democratic Party Chairman John Currie and gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy, calling for unity and taking time to praise Sen. Sanders’ impact on the party this year.
“His passionate and advocacy on issues like income inequality and corporate and special interest influence raise the level of the discourse. His voice was our democratic conscience, and as Gov. Rendell said, there’s no evidence in the history of our party that a losing candidate has had more of an influence on our party’s platform than Bernie Sanders,” Murphy said.
“The Clinton campaign has done a phenomenal job in reaching out to Sanders delegates, not only talking to them about what Hillary Clinton is going to offer them as a candidate and potential president but also asking them to serve as ambassadors to the rest of the delegation to try to bring the folks who are a little more reticent on board,” said Jennifer Holdsworth, New Jersey state director of Hillary for America.
Sanders is scheduled to make a prime time speech tonight, and while no one expects him to pull a Ted Cruz and withhold his endorsement, the consensus is that his tone and his appeal to his supporters will go a long way toward bridging the divides.
“Well, I think it’s very important because, you know, there are some people who say, ‘Well just because he says I should vote for Hillary doesn’t mean I have to.’ I mean, everybody does their own thing, so I think it’s very important that he not only says he’s supporting Hillary Clinton but why and make it issue oriented because as I said, most of what he wanted in the platform is there, so this is an opportunity to say, ‘Look she’s with us on the issues,’” said Congressman Frank Pallone.
Does Pallone think he’s going to pull a Ted Cruz?
“No, that won’t happen. I know him. I mean, I don’t know him that well, but I know him, and that’s not going to happen,” he said.
Cruz: So U-N-I-T-Y is the theme, but I’ll tell you in the past hour, this has turned into a shouting match here. I will say that as an example, during the invocation, Bernie Sanders supporters started chanting over the reverend who was giving the invocation. So that’ll give you an indication of what the tone is here right now.
Williams: And what’s coming up tonight, David? And what tone do you expect?
Cruz: It’s going to be around 9 o’clock, I would imagine. Cory Booker, we’re going to be carrying his speech live on Facebook Live tonight. But also, Michelle Obama is scheduled to speak tonight. And of course the highlight of this evening as you can hear the folks are ripe with anticipation here and it promises to be I think a pivotal point in this convention, early as it is, is Bernie Sanders speaking tonight. So that’s something to look forward to. Mary Alice?
Williams: Thank you David.