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May 16, 2008 5:24:27 AM CDT

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Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding  

Posted Feb 16, 08 6:07 AM CST in Politics    Most Covered

(newser) – Concerns about party unity are keeping Al Gore and other senior Democrats neutral in the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton face-off—at least for now, the New York Times reports. Party elders are painfully aware that infighting or back-room dealing at the Democratic National Convention could look like the will of the people is being thwarted and sour the public on the whole party.

If the nomination comes down a battle over superdelegates, insiders say it could take an honest broker with gravitas to settle things. That duty might have fallen to a popular former president—but Bill Clinton is hardly neutral, so many eyes have turned to Al Gore. "He’s probably the only unaligned person with the kind of stature to step in to that role," says a Gore associate.

Source New York Times

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Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, left, and committee member Debbie Dingell, right, walk away from a meeting of the Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws Committee after their case...   (Associated Press)
Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding
Supporter Belinda Mendoza listens as Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a campaign stop at the McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, Texas, Wednesday, Feb....   (Associated Press)
Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., visits an overflow crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday, Feb. 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)   (Associated Press)
Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding
In this file photo, Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., takes the microphone from former Vice President Walter Mondale, a Minnesota superdelegate, after he introduced...   (Associated Press)
Dems Hope to Head Off Convention Feuding
BOSTON, MA -- Former Vice President Al Gore speaks to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. This time around, Democratic Party insiders say that Gore could be the man to broker...   (KRT Photos)
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Hillary Clinton  • Bill Clinton  • superdelegates  • Al Gore  • Democratic National Convention  • Democratic Party


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Related Threads: Superdelegate Watch, Clinton 2008, Election 2008, Obama 2008, DNC Convention = War, Clinton-Obama Tussle

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