Will Democrats Find Party Unity In The City Of Brotherly Love?

Wisconsin Democrats are in Philadelphia this week for the Democratic National Convention.

For backers of expected presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, it’s a week to celebrate. But many Bernie Sanders supporters are hoping to rekindle some of the issues that drew them to Sanders’ presidential bid in the first place.

In some ways, this week’s Democratic National Convention is already a foregone conclusion. There’s no mystery about which candidate Democrats will nominate, and nobody’s waiting to see whether Sanders will endorse Clinton. He did that weeks ago.

“I have come here to make it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton,” Sanders said.

But Sanders delegate Peter Rickman, of Milwaukee, said this convention is more than a formality.

“I don’t think that the Sanders candidacy is really about Bernie Sanders. It is about the moment that we’re in,” he said.

Rickman has a history of activism from the occupation of the Wisconsin state Capitol to demonstrations at fast food restaurants. While he ultimately plans to support Clinton this November, Rickman and other Sanders supporters want to use the convention to shape the Democratic platform by taking a strong stand against trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership and to change the rules for future Democratic primaries by ending or scaling back the power of superdelegates.

“I think it’s going to be a raucous convention in the sense that there are a lot of strong-willed, committed people who are going to participate. No one is going for a free trip to Philadelphia and the Wells Fargo Center. It’s certainly not free. It’s costing us a lot of money. We’re all going there because we believe in the righteousness of the struggle and bringing it to the political arena,” Rickman said.

One could see signs of that activism on the day before the convention. Many pro-Sanders demonstrators were already marching in the streets of Philadelphia. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, another Sanders delegate, said he expects a “chaotic” convention.

“I’m packing for four days, and I’m preparing for four months,” Soglin said.

That potential for chaos likely grew after Wikileaks released emails showing Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz had actively worked to undermine Sanders. She has since announced that she would resign.

For Democrats, it complicates the already difficult task of getting some Sanders backers to vote for Clinton.

Given everything that’s happened this primary season, it’s easy to forget that in 2008, Clinton was in Sanders’ position. She lost to President Barack Obama, but ultimately used that year’s Democratic National Convention to call for unity.

“I move Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by acclimation as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States,” Clinton said.

Democratic consultant Heather Colburn, of Madison, was a Clinton delegate then and she’s a Clinton delegate again this year. She describes hearing Clinton speak in 2008 as one of the best moments of her life.

“For her to be so respectful of the nominee and so committed to his election, that was just really cool, and that’s how I took it,” she said.

Colburn said she knows some Sanders supporters of them won’t back Clinton, and at this stage in the campaign, she says she’s not going to try to change their minds.

“We just had a long primary, we just had this debate. If you can’t see the light now, I’m cool with that. We’re going to move on to the middle and the persuadables,” she said.

Colburn said what Sanders says this week could still go a long way toward party unity. He’ll speak to the Wisconsin delegation on Tuesday and the full Democratic National Convention Monday night.