Clinton expands Iowa delegate support at state convention (Hillary Group)

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/kathie-obradovich/2016/06/18/clinton-expands-iowa-delegate-support-state-convention/86086766/

Clinton expands Iowa delegate support at state convention


Kathie Obradovich, kobradov@dmreg.com 9:32 p.m. CDT June 18, 2016


A sea of hands went up Saturday when Iowa Democratic Party delegates were asked how many were participating in their first state convention.

The question on many of their minds, however, was how many of these new participants would still be raising their hands for the party nominee after the dust settles at the national convention in July.

There was some indication that Hillary Clinton’s status as the presumptive nominee was having an effect. While there was some behind-the-scenes grumbling, the open conflict of some county and district conventions over delegate counts was mostly absent from the state convention.

Out of 1,285 delegates to the convention, Clinton was originally allotted 704. But after all the delegates were seated and given the opportunity to realign, Clinton had 714 and Bernie Sanders had 571. Clinton will have 23 national delegates from Iowa and Sanders has 21, not including superdelegates.

“Hillary Clinton will win the state of Iowa,” said Sean Bagniewski of Des Moines, co-chair of the Clinton preference group at the convention.

Mitch Henry, a Latino political activist and Sanders campaign supporter from Des Moines, was one of the Sanders delegates who switched his support to Clinton.

“Now’s the time,” he said, indicating that the nomination battle is essentially over.

He said he hopes fellow Sanders supporters will also get behind Clinton and unify the party to defeat Donald Trump. “That’s our No. 1 target: Donald Trump.”

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Longtime Democratic Party member Jan Ellsworth of Des Moines, a Clinton supporter, said she welcomed “fresh faces” into the party. But she didn’t have much patience for complaints from new Democrats that the system is unfair to Sanders.

“You don’t go into somebody else’s house and start rearranging the furniture to your liking,” she said.

Elected officials and candidates at the convention called and in some cases pleaded for unity after the party nomination is decided.



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Sruthi Palaniappan, 18, of Cedar Rapids, is a Clinton supporter at the Democratic state convention. (Photo: Kathie Obradoivich/The Register)

New voter Sruthi Palaniappan, 18, of Cedar Rapids, a Clinton supporter, was elected from her district convention to serve as a national delegate. Her message to Sanders supporters:

“I think what they need to understand is we need a united front if we want to take down the Republican Party and still keep our Democratic Party alive,” she said. “We need to unite all Democrats because we’re all built on the same ideals and we have the same beliefs and values and passions.”

Of the nine at-large national delegates elected at the state convention, Clinton will have five and Sanders will have four. Clinton also had 15 national delegates and two alternates elected at district conventions; Sanders had 14 national delegates and two alternates. Delegates were also choosing a total of six party leader elected officials, three for each candidate. So that's 23 delegates for Clinton and 21 for Sanders. Iowa also has seven superdelegates, six of whom have been announced as Clinton supporters and one, state party chair Andy McGuire, who is neutral...........................