Mo. Dems divided between Obama and Clinton at convention

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- They were divided by red and blue badges, a waist-high railing and a ceiling-to-floor curtain. And when one side stood in applause, the other was apt to remain seated.

Missouri Democrats were visibly split at their statewide convention Saturday between those supporting Barack Obama and those backing Hillary Clinton. But they all stood in unity when asked if they would commit to pull together behind whoever eventually is chosen as the Democratic presidential nominee against Republican John McCain.

"The priority is to have a Democratic win in the state of Missouri," U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, the state's senior member in Congress, told the 718 delegates at the Missouri Democratic State Convention.

The state convention amounts to both a rally for Democratic candidates and a business meeting to select the slate that will represent Missouri in August at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Typically, Missouri Democrats can cheer for a consensus presidential nominee by the time of their state convention.

This year, however, there was a mixture of frustration, tension and optimism among the 382 Obama delegates and 335 Clinton delegates gathered in Columbia.

Clinton delegate Gail Elble, for example, chaffed that the badges assigned to her supporters were red -- the color typically associated with Republicans -- while the Obama badges were blue, the color normally associated with Democrats. Why not purple or green or nonpolitical colors, she wondered.

The colored badges, Elble said, seemed like just the latest slight by people unwilling to cut Clinton any slack and insistent that she should drop out of the race. Clinton is trailing Obama in the number of delegates won for the national convention. Neither candidate has obtained the majority of delegates necessary to lock up the nomination.

"It's absurd that we would suggest that when we have not picked a nominee, that we would stop the voting," said Elble, 57, of Clayton, the president of the Gateway Stonewall Democrats group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.

By contrast, Obama delegate Nate Kennedy, a 21-year-old political science student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, was using his Facebook Internet site to rally support for Clinton to drop out.

Former Kansas City mayor pro tem Alvin Brooks, another Obama delegate, was similarly hopeful she will soon quit.

"The longer that competitiveness is there between the two candidates, the more difficult it's going to be for whoever it is to rally the support of the other one," said Brooks, 76. "I'm afraid there is going to be too much bitterness."

Arguing for unity

The division was evident as former U.S. representative Dick Gephardt, the first convention speaker, praised Clinton as a great candidate and a great future president. The red-badge wearing delegates on the left side of the convention hall rose and applauded.

Then Gephardt continued: "But I also believe we have two great candidates for president of the United States."

At that, the blue-badged delegates on the right side of the hall rose in a standing ovation for Obama.

"We need to fight hard for our candidates, but when it's all over, it's over," Gephardt concluded. "We have to come together, lock arms, work with one another, trust one another, believe in one another and honor one another's ability."

Similar pleadings for unity were delivered by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, an Obama supporter; Skelton, a Clinton supporter; and U.S. Reps. William Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan, both Obama backers.

Obama narrowly won the popular vote in Missouri's Feb. 5 primary election. But unlike Republicans, Democrats don't award all their national delegates to the statewide winner. A portion are allotted to the winners of each congressional district. Clinton fared better than Obama at the congressional district level, so both candidates received a total of 36 national convention delegates from Missouri's primary.

Missouri also will have 16 "superdelegates" -- typically party leaders -- at the national convention, who can support whomever they choose. So far, Obama and Clinton each have been endorsed by five of those superdelegates; six others have not announced their intentions.

Among those remaining silent is Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. As the state's chief election official, Carnahan said she believes it is her duty to remain neutral in a primary election.