Utahns prepare to line up behind Obama; Clinton backers getting chance to cast votes

By Liz Sidoti
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Aug. 15, 2008 2:16 p.m. MDT
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WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton's name will be placed in nomination along with nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, an emblematic move intended to unite the party after a divisive primary.

During the Denver gathering, Democrats will officially choose Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall, but the state delegations will do a traditional roll call for their nominee's vanquished primary opponent as well.

Voting on Clinton's name "could prove interesting," said Utah Democratic state party executive director Todd Taylor, "but won't change the outcome" — Democrats will still nominate Obama for president.

Nine of the 29 Utah delegates to the convention are under a "moral, but no legal" requirement to vote for Clinton, based on candidate proportional results of the Utah Democratic presidential primary election last Feb. 5, said Taylor.

"Officially, the delegates are supposed to respect the wishes of those who elected them. But really, they can vote for whomever they like," said Taylor, who doesn't have a vote in the convention.

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and the other five so-called "superdelegates" from Utah have all endorsed Obama. But Matheson isn't going to the convention — he hasn't gone to one since he won office in 2000 — and his vote can't be replaced. So Utah will have only 28 votes at the convention.

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Taylor said he imagines that when Utah's name is called in the official roll call of states, nine votes will go for Clinton and 19 votes for Obama. Assuming other state delegations break out the same as their presidential primary or caucus election counts and with the endorsements of superdelegates he already has, Obama will still have enough votes to win on the first round of balloting in Denver.

Obama and Clinton — fierce rivals then, reluctant allies now — agreed to the convention-speaking arrangement after weeks of negotiations between their respective aides. The two sides made the announcement Thursday in a collegial joint statement.

"I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion," said Obama, an Illinois senator.

Added Clinton, a New York senator: "With every voice heard and the party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama president of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again."

Donald Dunn, Utah chairman of the Clinton campaign, said Thursday that he believes it is appropriate and right that Clinton's Utah delegates get the chance to vote for her.

"Democrats stand for counting each vote; and I'm proud we're going to do this in our convention," said Dunn, the former Utah Democratic Party chairman.

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