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Alleged anger from disaffected supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton frustrated with Sen. Joseph Biden’s (D-Del.) selection as Barack Obama’s running mate was the dominant story the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Bloggers and the news media delivered reports of festering ill will all day, despite denials from the Clinton and Obama camps.
Sen. John McCain’s campaign did its part to fuel the media frenzy, releasing an ad featuring a Clinton delegate who said she plans to support the Arizona Republican over Obama this fall.
“If anyone doubted that John McCain would target disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, his new ad should convince the holdouts,” blogger Ed Morrissey wrote at Hot Air early Monday morning.
Discussion also focused on a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that found 21 percent of those who voted for Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) during the primary plan to support McCain. “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams noted that a number of Clinton supporters felt snubbed by the vice presidential selection process.
There’s a “whole lot of talk about not a lot of respect paid,” Williams said while interviewing Ann Lewis, a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign who is also Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) sister.
Lewis, who said Clinton is behind Sen. Obama (D-Ill.), was one of many Clinton surrogates who made appearances on cable news programs to dispel the rumor that hard feelings have lingered since the primary.
Terry McAuliffe, in an interview on MSNBC, bristled at a question from Andrea Mitchell suggesting that Clinton wants Obama to lose so she can run again in four years.
“People don’t have enough to do with their lives,” McAuliffe said.
But McCain’s campaign welcomed the dissension. “We are fighting hard for Hillary’s former supporters,” Nicolle Wallace, a McCain spokeswoman, said on Fox News.
Karl Rove, former adviser to President Bush and now a contributor at Fox News, said on that network that McCain would be the one to reap the benefits of the rift. “In states like Ohio, people are saying, ‘Don’t count on me as a Democrat,’ ” Rove said.
But people should separate Hillary Clinton from Bill Clinton, cautioned Hilary Rosen, political editor for The Huffington Post.
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