Sanders supporters wrestle with what’s next

By Erin Murphy, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

PHILADELPHIA - Bernie Sanders' most passionate supporters spent Tuesday wrestling with pleas from the presidential candidate for whom they have so much affection to vote for the candidate for whom they have so much contempt.

Sanders, in giving the final speech Monday of the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, urged his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton in this fall's election in order to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Sanders repeated that call Tuesday as he made the rounds speaking to various state delegations in Philadelphia.

'One, we have to defeat Donald Trump. Two, we have to elect Hillary Clinton. And three, we have to sustain our progressive movement,” he told Wisconsin delegates.

While Sanders spoke, a Wisconsin supporter grumbled that national Democratic Party leaders have not sufficiently apologized to Sanders supporters for leaked emails that show national party officials favoring Clinton during the primary election season.

When Sanders spoke moments later to the Iowa delegation, a pair of young supporters were moved to tears.

Iowa delegate Daniel Clark, 25, of Mount Pleasant, said he worked extensively for the campaign in Iowa but had never met Sanders until Tuesday, when Sanders made an unannounced stop at the Iowa delegation's morning meeting.

Sanders spoke just a couple feet away from Clark, who was emotional during the remarks. Clark called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Like many of Sanders' most fervent supporters, Clark said that despite the pleas, he cannot envision voting for Clinton.

'As of right now, I don't feel that it's in our best interests, if we are true Bernie Sanders supporters, to back Hillary. We've been fighting everything she represents for two months,” Clark said. 'He got this huge revolution going, and he started this huge fire, and we all feel the Bern, and it's very difficult to put that out.”

Iowa delegate Jesica Butler, 25, of Hawarden was emotional during Sanders' appearance and remained so afterward. She said a vote for Clinton would run contrary to everything she fought for. Butler said it was disappointing to hear Sanders ask his supporters to vote for Clinton.

'The whole time we've been fighting against all the things that Hillary Clinton stands for,” Butler said. 'So to support her is just awful.”

Iowa delegate Rebecca Mueller, 35, of Muscatine said she resents that some Clinton supporters are warning Sanders supporters that if they do not support Clinton they are enabling Trump.

'We don't like the fearmongering that is going on within the Democratic Party, that if you don't want Trump, you must vote for Hillary Clinton,” Mueller said.

She said many Sanders supporters may, instead, vote for the Green Party's Jill Stein.

Sanders 'has to make his own decision about how he wants to move forward,” Mueller said. 'Berners are going to go their own way.”