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Bernie Sanders' delicate dance tonight in Philadelphia
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July 25, 2016
By Jim Barnes
Philadelphia— When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the podium of the Democratic National Convention tonight, how will he console his passionate supporters and delegates in the Wells Fargo Center and rally them behind the party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton? It will be a delicate dance, as past runners-up have learned.
As Clinton herself recounted in the opening pages of her book, Hard Choices, about her own capitulation to Barack Obama at the end of the 2008 Democratic nominating contest, “This was not going to be easy for me, or for my staff and supporters who had given it their all.” She recounted, “There had been hot rhetoric and bruised feelings on both sides.” Clinton’s name was placed in nomination at the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver to help assuage her delegates, many of whom still harbored some hard feelings toward Obama.[1] But Clinton—who, like Sanders, had at one point signaled she’d take her 2008 convention fight to the floor, even after Obama had captured a majority of the pledged delegates—ended up giving her rival a gracious endorsement convention speech and moved to make Obama’s nomination unanimous after the initial roll call.[2]
It’s important to remember that Sanders is in a different political place than Clinton was in 2008. His has been an insurgent’s campaign, while Clinton was the favorite of much of the Democratic establishment in 2008 (and even more so in 2016). It wouldn’t surprise anyone if she hadn’t already been thinking about leaving the door open to another presidential run in 2012 (if Obama had lost the 2008 general election) or 2016. Resisting Obama could have alienated black Democratic primary voters who gave her overwhelming and critical support in this year’s nominating contest. And many Sanders supporters in Philadelphia are understandably inflamed anew after the recent leak of internal DNC emails that showed some of the staff appearing to side with Clinton over the Vermont senator during the nominating contest this year.
The point is, after a hard-fought presidential nominating contest, the surrender by a runner-up—especially one who leads an insurgent’s campaign—can be tricky. In 1988, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson had run a dazzling insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and finished runner-up to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Negotiations over Jackson’s acquiescence to Dukakis went all the way to the Democratic convention in Atlanta that year.
I covered that convention for the National Journal magazine and its "ConventionDaily" newspaper, and I well recall interviews at the time with advisers to Jackson including Ron Brown (later Democratic National Committee chairman), Harold Ickes (later White House deputy chief of staff and long-time political consigliere to Bill and Hillary Clinton), John C. White (who had previously chaired the DNC for President Jimmy Carter), and chief Dukakis delegate counter Tad Devine (now a top adviser to Bernie Sanders) about the challenging diplomacy that went on in Atlanta hotel suites. In the run up to that convention, Jackson pressed for and won concessions on the platform and party nominating rules.
After learning that he wasn’t going to be Dukakis’ running mate—that honor went to then-Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen—Jackson warned that he might seek to have his own name placed in nomination to be the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee. Jackson’s attention-getting, week-long trip to the Atlanta convention in a bus caravan dubbed the “Rainbow Express” evoked images of 1960s civil rights struggle.
Veteran political reporters Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover wrote of this post-primary maneuvering in their book on the 1988 presidential campaign, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? “Jackson could follow this course of pursuing the vice presidency while keeping his campaign alive without fear of public criticism from fellow Democrats. If he had been white, he could have expected some demand that he get behind Dukakis in the interest of party unity. But few in the party were prepared to risk being accused of racism by making such a demand of Jackson.” He didn’t follow through on that threat, but he did press (unsuccessfully) floor challenges on two platform planks. But by the time Jackson arrived in Atlanta, even some prominent civil rights leaders thought he needed to acknowledge that Dukakis had more than enough delegates to be nominated. As Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis told Orlando Sentinel reporter Anne Groer: "Jesse must be willing to see that it's not a civil rights movement; it's a political affair. This is not a march from Selma to Montgomery. This is not the freedom ride here. The man Dukakis has won the nomination. Jesse’s got to come in and support the ticket if he wants to be a meaningful player in the Democratic Party."[3]
When Jackson addressed the convention on its second night, he didn’t quite deliver a full-throated endorsement of the Democratic standard bearer. “Tonight, I salute Governor Michael Dukakis,” said Jackson. “He has run a well-managed and a dignified campaign.” Jackson, an impressive speaker, employed this language to link arms with the nominee: “His fore-parents came to America on immigrant ships; my fore-parents came to America on slave ships. But whatever the original ships, we're in the same boat tonight.” It would be more than a week later, in Chicago, before Jackson would explicitly advocate a vote for Dukakis in the fall. [4]
Another dramatic surrender for a Democratic presidential contender came in 1980 at the party’s acrimonious convention in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. That year, the runner-up, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the leader of the party’s liberal wing, only bowed to incumbent President Jimmy Carter’s re-nomination after a hard-fought primary campaign and a bitter struggle on the floor of the Garden. Kennedy gave what is perhaps one of the most famous set of “loser’s” convention remarks, his “the-dream-shall-never-die” speech.[5] His endorsement of Carter was more tepid: “I can congratulate President Carter on his victory here.”
On the final night of the Democratic convention that year, Kennedy famously appeared to avoid Carter’s embrace on the podium for the traditional hands-clasped unity salute to the delegates.
Conceding is never easy, especially when an insurgent who ran a spirited campaign is surrendering. How Sanders handles what is arguably the biggest speech of his life is much anticipated by the Democrats in Philadelphia.
James A. Barnes is a senior writer at Ballotpedia who has covered every Democratic and Republican national convention since 1984. He is in Cleveland and Philadelphia for Ballotpedia in July. Contact media@ballotpedia.org with interview inquiries.
See also
- Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
- Democratic National Committee
- Democratic National Convention, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "As a Tribute, Democrats Will Place Clinton’s Name in Nomination at the Convention," August 14, 2008
- ↑ The New York Times, "Clinton Signals She May Carry Fight to Convention," May 22, 2008
- ↑ Orlando Sentinel, "Negotiations Not 'Conquest,' Jackson Says," July 17, 1988
- ↑ The New York Times, "Jackson Delivers a Speech, And He Mentions Dukakis," July 31, 1988
- ↑ The New York Times, "A BID TO 'KEEP FAITH'; Senator Congratulates the President and Voices Hope on November Moment Awaited by Carter Camp Deafening Cheers for Kennedy Kennedy Calls on Democrats to Reunite for Election Victory in Fall Assessment of Defeat Disgruntled Kennedy Forces," August 13, 1980
