Iowa Sanders supporters not feeling party unity; Sanders backs Clinton again in speech

PHILADELPHIA - Bernie Sanders called his campaign a 'fantastic start” to a movement to revolutionize politics and policy, but as the Democratic National Convention got underway, his supporters had mixed feelings about his call for party unity.

In fact, the Vermont Democratic socialist was booed Monday when he told a throng of supporters in Philadelphia, 'We've got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” her running mate.

Not everyone was booing.

'He's a team player even if it's for a team that played dirty against him,” said Sanders delegate Brent Oleson of Marion. 'I plan on voting for him Wednesday and supporting the ticket on Thursday.”

Sanders hoped his other supporters would adopt that attitude because, as Sanders said, 'Brothers and sisters, this is the real world we live in.”

Caleb Humphrey's real world is Iowa's 4th District.

'Hillary Clinton won't be living in the 4th District, I will,” an angry Humphrey said after a Hillary for America staffer declined to answer his questions in front of reporters.

'Look, we know the numbers,” Humphrey said after hearing calls for party unity at the Iowa delegation's breakfast Monday. He's still fighting for Sanders' ideas on single-payer health care, the minimum wage and forcing wealthy Americans and corporations to pay a larger share of taxes. 'I'm trying to be there as a Democrat.”

Another Sanders delegate, Lucas Haffner of Lytton, said he wants to see Democratic and progressive values proceed together, 'but there is a rift because we consider this is still a contest being played out.”

Haffner and other Sanders delegates said the Clinton campaign has not made it easy to heal the divisions. They were incensed that the Clinton campaign made Debbie Wasserman Schultz an honorary national campaign chairwoman after she resigned from the Democratic National Committee following leaked emails that showed party staffers sabotaged the Sanders campaign.

'They want unity and she brings Debbie Wasserman Schultz on?” he said.

That was before it was announced that Wasserman Schultz would not gavel in the convention. If she had, Sanders delegate Ingrid Olsen of Council Bluffs predicted the outgoing chairwoman would be booed and many would turn their backs.

Wasserman Schultz's presence on the stage would be a slap in the face of Sanders delegates, Olson said and another indication that the Clinton campaign is not reaching out.

'They've done nothing to unify the party and everything to vilify Sanders and his supporters,” she said. 'They've done nothing to make us feel that Sanders' progressive ideas are being adopted.”

Meg Ansara, national battleground state director for Hillary for America, said the campaign has been hiring former Sanders staffers and talking to Sanders supporters 'about how we approach this convention together to ultimately strengthen this convention.”

'We feel tremendously optimistic. We feel like we all recognize what's at stake and the work we need to do to get there,” she said.

That may not be enough, according to David Andersen, an assistant professor of political science at Iowa State University. He said the presidential election is Clinton's to lose unless she can get Bernie Sanders supporters on board.

'She has made an effort to reach out to them,” Andersen said. 'If she consolidates the base to make sure that people who want to vote for a Democrat, want to vote for her, the odds are in her favor to win this election.”

If that's what she wants, then Clinton has to realize that Sanders supporters aren't chasing what he called 'utopian fantasies.”

'What this campaign is about,” Olson said, 'is utopian ideas” like opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, supporting free, in-state public education tuition. Clinton needs to take additional steps to get the Democratic base solidly behind her.

Despite their bitterness and disappointment, Olson and others said they plan to stay involved.

'We don't want anyone to walk off the floor,” Olson said. 'We need to stay here for down-ballot progressives.

'We're here for the long haul, to push left of left.”

Sanders was the opening day's final speaker, and his introduction produced a raucous ovation.

Sanders stuck mostly to his standard campaign speech, and drew a particularly favorable response when he told his supporters that he looks forward to hearing them deliver their votes for him during Tuesday night's proceedings.

But Sanders also added his support for Clinton.

'Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” Sanders said, later closing with, 'Hillary Clinton will make and outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight.”