Tomorrow, New York Senator Hillary Clinton is expected to throw her support behind Senator Barack Obama as Democratic nominee for President.
But polls suggest at least a quarter of Clinton supporters won’t follow her lead.
Some say they will back Republican Senator John McCain, others plan a write-in campaign, and there are those who talk of staying home.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein asked some loyal followers about what they’ll do in November.
It hasn’t been the best week for Jane Clemons since her candidate Hillary Clinton announced she was stepping aside.
Sfx: Hillary Clinton June 3, 2008 speech
The state Representative from Nashua gave everything she had to get Hillary Clinton elected.
Her son Nick even ran the campaign in New Hampshire.
But no matter how many months she’s spent fighting to get the first women elected president of the United States, party loyalty trumps it all.
5:!2...I’m a damn good Democrat. I do what I gotta do.
When asked, she doesn’t say switching allegiance to Illinois Senator Barack Obama is difficult.
It’s just reality.
7:20 we’ve been through this with the Gore campaign, we’ve been through this with the Dean campaign...when your candidate...doesn’t win, you need, let’s call it a mourning period, you get back on track and you work for the ticket.
Conventional wisdom suggests Clinton supporters will fall in line behind Senator Obama because the contrast between him and Senator John McCain is so stark.
Former Women for Hillary co-chair Jennifer Frizzell says the choice is clear when it comes to the issues- the environment, No Child Left Behind, healthcare reform.
As a case in point, Frizzell is one of 24 women who signed a letter that argued Obama wasn’t as strong on abortion.
3:31 I am a Hillary supporter who happens to believe she had a stronger pro-choice record...than Senator Obama. But the distinctions between their positions are shades of gray. Compared to the black and white reality that Senator Obama is strongly pro-choice, and Senator McCain is strongly anti-choice.
2:11 I never liked Obama. And I will be voting for McCain in the fall.
Of course, not all Hillary supporters see the difference between Obama and Clinton so subtly.
Law student Ross Fishbein from Manchester doesn’t like Obama’s stand that he would negotiate with any world leader, pull troops out of Iraq so quickly and was so close to Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Put it all together, and Fishbein says the Illinois Senator is too inexperienced for the job.
8:00...frankly, a lot of people I have spoken to, don’t feel they can trust Senator Obama, not b/c he is untrustworthy, but b/c they don’t know a lot about him. and he doesn’t have a record to reflect on how he may govern.
Experience is something Michael Dennehy has been hearing a lot of this week.
Dennehy is a national adviser to McCain’s campaign.
2:02 we’ve had spikes in emails to our website from former Hillary supporters. We’ve had even some higher level elected officials interested in supporting John McCain. Not ready to make an endorsement, but there has been increased amount of activity on our phone lines and through our website from Democrats who were activity in Hillary’s organization or who were supporters who are looking at John McCain as the candidate for November.
Dennehy called New Hampshire critical to the campaign’s general election strategy.
He said McCain’s team plans to aggressively go after disaffected Clinton supporters.
And right now, given McCain’s success in 2000 and in 2008, Dennehy likes his candidate’s chances.
The most recent UNH poll- conducted the last week of April- found Obama trailing McCain by six points.
Democratic state Representative Jane Clemons says if her candidate wants to win here in November, he’s got to visit and meet with blue collar workers, women, the people she calls ‘the real people.’
10:09 if he wants their vote, he has to show them that he will stand up for them, like they counted on her standing up for them. And right now, it hasn’t been proven. And it needs to be.
But former state Senator Katie Wheeler- a prominent Clinton supporter- promises Obama’s not going to have to do all that work alone.
Wheeler says she’s got a friend who decidedly anti-Obama right now.
11:31 I will have to say, you can’t vote for McCain. I have to remind people how anti-choice he is, how his position on Iraq is terrible. It’s so much bigger than whether it should be Senator Clinton or Senator Obama.
Be sure Senator McCain’s going to be going after people like Wheeler’s friend this summer too.
The Arizona Senator will do it in person when he campaigns in the state next week.
For NHPR News, I’m DG.
Hi Dan,
It does not matter who, for all three are just alike -- sending us down the slipperly slope of socialism.
By the way, the audio Captcha thing does not work at all... the letters are not able to be heard. It's worse than the visual one.