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Clintons Get Prime Time To Help Heal Old Wounds

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The Associated Press

Published: August 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - Turns out Democratic primary loser Hillary Rodham Clinton will get time to shine at the party's national convention after all - and quite a bit of it.

Democrats officially will choose Barack Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall. In an emblematic move meant to heal divisive primary wounds, the vanquished Clinton name also will be placed in nomination alongside his during the traditional state-by-state delegation roll-call vote at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

And, she gets her own plum speaking slot.

So does her husband, former President Clinton.

All that high-profile Clinton action, spread over at least half of the convention's four prime-time speaking nights, ensures an enormous presence for the couple who have been national fixtures in the Democratic Party since 1992 - and whose latest White House bid, hers, split the party into for-them or against-them camps.

Among the risks: past leaders of the party overshadowing the current standard-bearer.

In fact, the party has a history of other Democrats showing-up the guest of honor.

The keynote speaker four years ago, Obama, seemed to get more love and better reviews during the 2004 convention in Boston than hometown nominee John Kerry, who selected the up-and-comer to speak. Jesse Jackson stole Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis' show in Atlanta in 1988, and Ted Kennedy's "dream will never die" speech brought down New York's Madison Square Garden during Jimmy Carter's 1980 soiree.

Obama's keynote speaker, Mark Warner of Virginia, will deliver his address the same day Hillary Clinton does, Aug. 26, and the ex-president shares the next day, Aug. 27, with the as-yet-unnamed vice presidential running mate. On the final convention night, Aug. 28, Obama will accept the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination before a much bigger crowd at a separate venue.

Historically, the roll call has occurred on the convention's third night. That's still likely, although Democrats say the mechanics of how the vote will play out still are being determined.

When it occurs, Hillary Clinton, a superdelegate who gets a vote, is expected to release her delegates to Obama, announce her support for him and ask her backers to do the same.

DETROIT MAYOR UNWELCOME AT CONVENTION

LANSING, Mich. - Democratic candidate Barack Obama doesn't want the beleaguered mayor of Detroit on hand when Obama accepts the party's presidential nomination in Denver.

A spokesman for Obama said Thursday that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would be a distraction if he went to the convention as a superdelegate.

Kilpatrick faces eight felony charges in a perjury case and two felony charges in an assault case. Obama spokesman Brent Colburn said in an e-mail that the focus of the convention should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual."

The Associated Press

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