Columnist Analyzes Rift Between Sanders and Clinton Supporters
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - AB Stoddard, a editor and columnist for Real Clear Politics, assessed the current state of the Democratic National Convention after the first day featured a series of protests resisting the endorsement of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
In an interview with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Stoddard said this scenario is different from the tensions between Clinton and then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama in 2008.
"The division was much worse with Sanders because Hillary Clinton was going to run for office again. So whether or not she wanted to come around, she forced herself to come around because she wanted to be the next Democratic nominee after Obama, whether he was in for four or eight years. Sanders is not running for President. His movement, they're not buying what he's saying about falling in line because that's not what they do. They've been fighting the establishment. That wasn't the issue with Hillary and Barack."
Despite that, she stated that Sanders has done a lot to bridge the divide and could play a key role in helping Clinton win in November.
"Bernie will campaign and say this man [Donald Trump] must be stopped. Many of his supporters will buy it. He'll argue that they've changed, they made a huge impact on the party, that they're going to keep the pressure up, that the party is going to turn to the left after Hillary whether she likes it or not. He's going to make these arguments. Some of these people are going to come around."
Stoddard contrasted the first day of the DNC with the Republicans, who are going through their own internal struggles.
"On the Republican side, I have spoken to many Republicans who will never say in public that they're voting for Hillary but if they live in a state where it matters, they're going to. I've spoken to other Republicans who will never vote for Hillary, but they're not going to vote for Trump and they're going to sit it out. Then I've spoken to many of them, and you saw them last week in Cleveland, they're going to come around because they're buying into this argument that it's binary and that you have to vote and that Hillary is so wretched. We'll see. Obviously, we're so fascinated with what those numbers are going to be an what we're going to learn about them later, about the defection numbers."
