Democrats nominate Clinton
Former secretary of state is first woman nominated for president by a major party
The Democratic Party emerged from a cloud of division Tuesday night in Philadelphia to select former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the first woman nominated for president of the United States by a major political party.
The historic choice of the former first lady and twoterm senator from New York at the Democratic National Convention was conducted in an orderly roll call vote that was eventually made “by acclamation” at the urging of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, her longtime and sometimes bitter opponent.
“Madam chair, I move that the convention suspend the procedural rules,” Mr. Sanders said after joining the Vermont delegates on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center. “I move that all votes, all votes cast by delegates, be reflected in the official record, and I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States.”
The nomination — buoyed by the generally respectful and friendly cheers for each side’s delegates — gave the impression of moving the party past the rancor and resistance that had marred the convention’s opening day.
Those who stayed with the choreographed program through its post-11 p.m. conclusion were greeted by Mrs. Clinton via a live video feed from her home in New York in which she thanked them for their support and for putting “a big crack in that glass ceiling.”
Former President Bill Clinton had thanked the delegates himself in a primetime speech that amounted to the telling of a love story being told to a group of friends rather than millions of Americans who in November will make or break his wife’s biggest dream.
He began by telling the lighthearted tale of how he first met her in the early 1970s at Yale Law School.
Throughout the story he told, he exuded the charisma and relatability he’s famous for in a folksy speech not given by William Jefferson Clinton, the former president, but by Bill, the doting husband.
He characterized her as a selfless public servant, a champion of civil rights, a fighter, and a loving wife and mother.
Conversely, he portrayed himself as his wife’s biggest cheerleader, her No. 1 supporter and her unworthy helpmate.
“We’ve built up a lifetime of memories,” he said.
The speech was pure Bill Clinton, the drawling, crowd-pleasing message and manner that persuaded Americans to elect him to the White House twice during the 1990s.
Now, his wife is one step closer to the possibility of allowing him to reclaim the address of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The mathematics to the 2,383 votes needed for the nomination proceeded steadily with Ms. Clinton collecting roughly five votes for every three that went to Mr. Sanders. The state-bystate-by-U.S.-territory-andWashington, D.C. roll call was orderly but raucous, with supporters loudly cheering their own candidate as well as the other.
Mr. Sanders, in a box seat during the start of the roll call, beamed as he watched the proceedings, which included brief remarks from his older brother, Larry, a delegate with Democrats Abroad.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic delegation, stepping up more than halfway through the count, divided 126 votes for Ms. Clinton and 82 votes for Mr. Sanders, putting their respective totals at 2,271 and 1,479.
Gov. Tom Wolf, who issued a brief “welcome to our commonwealth” to the delegates, announced the votes.
It was the tiny state delegation of South Dakota whose 15 delegates put Ms. Clinton over the top. But in a marked difference from convention tradition, the counting did not stop once she earned the nomination, but instead proceeded through the list of states.
Near the end of the roll call, Vermont was the first delegation to pass its opportunity to cast its votes. Then, at the end of the roll call, Mr. Sanders made his request to the chair for the voice-vote acclamation.
With a roar of support from the thousands in the arena, it was done. Clinton and Sanders supporters alike chanted “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”
But not all of them. Some Sanders supporters did not chant, yet neither did they boo. Instead, they walked out.
“I’m tired of being sold out, and I’m tired of being told there’s something wrong with me for not getting in line,” said Rashane Hamby, a 25-year-old Sanders delegate from Kansas.
The disappointed Sanders supporters conducted an hourlong sit-in outside the arena before a number of them splintered off and joined angry activists in a clash with police in the streets of Philadelphia. Some were detained by police for rushing an 8-foot fence around the arena and trying to climb over it.
Speakers on Ms. Clinton’s behalf Tuesday night included Geneva Reed-Veal, Lucia McBath and Sybrina Fulton, representing eight African-American women who lost children to violence, some of them at the hands of police officers. The women took the arena stage moments after Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay spoke about the best efforts of law enforcement.
“I am here with Hillary Clinton tonight because she is a leader and a mother who will say our children’s names,” said Ms. Reed-Veal, one of the “Mothers of the Movement,” a group organized at Ms. Clinton’s urging earlier this year.
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, later told the audience, “This election isn’t about electing the first woman president. It’s about electing THIS woman president.”
Additional testimonials were offered by a New York City police detective, a New York congressman and a woman who spent more than six months in a hospital after recovering from severe burns incurred in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They paid tribute to Ms. Clinton for her work — while she was a New York senator — on behalf of New Yorkers.
Other speakers included U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., and nine other female members of the House of Representatives, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Former President Jimmy Carter, noting that he had known Ms. Clinton for decades and in 1977 appointed her to the federal Legal Services Corp., endorsed her in a video played on the arena’s video displays.
Tracie Mauriello and Chris Potter contributed. Dan Majors: dmajors@postgazette.com or 412-263-1456.