Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager met on Friday afternoon in Burlington with some of the Vermont delegates to the Democratic National Convention who are pledged to support Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager and a native Vermonter, was asking Sanders’ delegates to get behind Clinton for a peaceful convention in Philadelphia in July, several delegates said afterward. It appeared no promises were made.
“We’re still processing,” said Rep. Mary Sullivan (D-Burlington), a pledged Sanders delegate, as she came out of the meeting at the Hilton Burlington.
“We just had a really productive conversation about the way the campaigns can come together,” said Christina Amestoy, the Vermont Democratic Party spokeswoman, who also attended the meeting.
Some of the state’s 16 pledged delegates declined to attend, said Shyla Nelson, who was among those who stayed away. Others who declined the invitation were Ashley Andreas, Noah Detzer, Maria Rinaldi, Laura Simon and alternate Matthew Kiley.
In a statement, the no-shows said they preferred to allow Sanders to hammer out with Clinton any agreement on how the convention will proceed. “Upon completion of those negotiations, we look forward to his clear direction for us and our fellow 1,900 delegates,” their statement said in part.
Claudia Pringles, a delegate from Montpelier, said she had considered not going to the meeting but changed her mind. After the meeting, she said, “There were a lot of presumptions about who’s going to be the nominee.”
Pringles indicated she wasn’t ready to concede that it will be Clinton. “I am in this for Bernie as far as Bernie goes,” she said.
Mook, who grew up in Norwich, got his start politically working on Vermont Democratic House campaigns.
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There is nothing that will convince me to vote for HRC. I refuse to vote from a place of fear. That will only perpetuate the slow steady decline that our nation has been experiencing. I encourage Senator Sanders to run as an Independent. Thank You!
P.S. Our delegates need to remain strong!
I like the ratf*cking element of trying to get Sander’s home state delegates to stab him in the back while he campaigns for downballot candidates in NY.
Even mild mannered grannies are going to end up Bernie or Bust at this rate.
The convention is in 4 weeks & they can’t wait? Clinton must be sweating about those server problems. I wonder what she did?
I attended the meeting. It was agreed at the request of one of our fellow Sanders delegates that the conversation was off the record, so I do not feel free to reveal what was said. But I don’t think that prevents me from revealing what was not said: no one was asked not to vote for Bernie Sanders at the Convention.
Rich Cassidy
I am voting for Bernie if he is the Democratic candidate or if he runs as an independent. If he does not run I will not vote for Clinton or Trump. I will vote for Gary Johnson. We need to break the hold that the two party system has on our political process.
“Presumptions”….
These Bernie fanatics believing that Bernie is somehow going to still be the nominee despite the fact that he lost the popular vote, lost the delegate count, lost more states, and has no mathematical chance of winning the nomination really says something.
Because Hillary won the most votes, the most delegates, the most states, and has a majority of the delegates indicates that she will be the Democratic nominee. Claudia needs to ease off on the Kool-Aid and check back with reality.
I will never vote for Hillary or Trump. I have said it often enough that people are finally getting the message. I am proud that our delegates are staying strong. Anyone who claims that Hillary got all those extra votes hasn’t been paying attention to the vast amount of voter fraud that has gone on in this primary season. If for nothing else, ask yourselves why the mainstream media canceled their request for exit polls on 6/7. Studies of exit polls and actual results show that in many of the states that Clinton won, there was fraud that the US would have found actionable in a foreign country but not here, apparently. There was no fraud found in the states that Bernie won by large margins. Anyone who says to the contrary hasn’t looked at the history of exit polls and the fraud that variance between exit polls and final results establishes.
FRAUD IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION PROCESS IS AN OUTRAGE. I’m with BERNIE.
Scott McCarty… I am a Bernie supporter, and while I agree that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, there are two reasons I will never vote for her.
1/ I couldn’t hold my nose tight enough to vote for either Clinton or Trump. If this is the best America (a country of well over 300 million citizens) has to offer the electorate, we are in serious trouble.
2/ Americans shouldn’t feel that they MUST vote for a candidate from one of the two major parties. Those two parties are the main problem with this country. I will do as my conscience dictates and cast my vote for Bernie in November.
THAT is reality.
I wouldn’t vote for killary or socialist sanders.. Trump all the way ..I want my America back.. not a socialist country that sanders wants nor a greedy elite refugee country that killary wants just like obumass.. I’m a 6th generation Vermonter not a socialist transplant like sanders, who’s not a Vermonter.. I want my country back.. So go ahead you liberals hit dislike all you want..I don’t fall for the lies that sanders spew.. there’s no free college, someone has to pay for it.. TRUMP 2016
I thank our delegates for honoring their job as delegates for #ForeverBernie
HRC is doing what she always does and trusting on the analytics of her polling. Not her moral conscience. If the internal polling of the DNC show that she can win moderate Republicans, then She does NOT NEED PROGRESSIVES to win the election.
This platform committee is a charade…Bernie should understand it as well as Dr. Cornell West does. Keep your moral integrity Bernie, no matter what, nothing good ever comes of anyone who associates with the Clintons.
Obama campaigned on transparency and now a simple meeting, that should not have taken place, is off the record simply because of an un named delegates request?
It’s this sort of thing that really turn people off about politics!
#SeeYouInPhilly
#BernieOrBust