DNC Recap: Clinton turns to Vilsack, Harkin

PHILADELPHIA - The country's top Democrats spent four days in the nation's birthplace celebrating an historic moment while also working on two key objectives that they hope will help keep their party in control of the White House.

Time will tell whether those efforts were successful, but the objectives were clear: At this past week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Democrats attempted to coalesce support from primary voters who had backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and to paint for undecided voters at home a personal picture of nominee Hillary Clinton.

And she used a couple Iowans, among others, to help sell that message.

‘THE HILLARY I KNOW'

Clinton made history by becoming the first woman nominee on a major party ticket, but she also has historically low favorability ratings among the public.

In fact Clinton trails only her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in having the highest unfavorable ratings of any major party presidential candidate in the nation's history. Clinton also has poor ratings in polling questions about her trustworthiness.

Democrats spent the week in Philadelphia trying to chip away at those numbers.

'It's up to people that know Hillary Clinton. We need to make sure we get out and tell the story of Hillary,” said Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Agriculature Secretary and former Iowa governor who has long been a friend and political ally to Clinton.

'I have great confidence that if we tell that story, people are going to understand who she is and what she has done all her life. …

I'm confident that over time we're going to continue to see growing support.”

Harkin speaks to SANDERS SUPPORTERS

Another challenge facing Hillary Clinton's campaign is persuading primary voters who were passionate supporters of runner-up Sanders, the self-described socialist Democrat and U.S. Senator from Vermont.

Sanders was not a traditional Democratic candidate - he has served as an independent in the U.S. Senate, registered as a Democrat for the campaign and said recently he plans to return to serving as an independent - nor were his supporters traditional Democratic activists.

Many elected officials who supported Sanders have now endorsed Clinton, as has Sanders himself. At the grass roots level, many who voted for Sanders said they will support Clinton - 90 percent in a recent Pew Research Center survey.

But other voters remain skeptical and a few more outright adamantly opposed to Clinton.

Clinton and her supporters spent the week in Philadelphia making the case to those swayable Sanders supporters.

Tom Harkin, the former Democratic U.S. senator from Iowa, shared stories of how a lack of unity among Democrats can have troublesome electoral results for the party. Harkin used the 1968 presidential election won by Richard Nixon.

'Imagine what our country would have been like without eight years of Richard Nixon,” Harkin said.

'So I say to you (Sanders supporters), look, we've got to come together. The other side is way too scary.”