Pride, disappointment, calls for unity as Iowans cast votes for a nominee

PHILADELPHIA - Proudly, sometimes loudly and sometimes with trembling voices, Iowa's 60 Iowa Democratic National Convention delegates cast their votes for a presidential nominee Tuesday morning.

The delegation will officially cast its ballot during the convention roll call this evening.

There were no surprises - 30 votes for Hillary Clinton and 21 for Bernie Sanders, including superdelegates.

In announcing their votes, Clinton supporters extolled her leadership, toughness and resume. Sanders loyalists cited his integrity and progressive values.

Eleanor Taft of Iowa City put it bluntly: 'He's not for sale.”

For the most part, it was Iowa nice, but there were raw emotions and, in some cases, warnings from 'Berners” that the party was heading down the wrong path.

'In our view, a vote for Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump,” Rebecca Mueller of Muscatine said. She expected Sanders supporters in the room to back Clinton, but others may vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party, Libertarian Gary Johnson or even Trump.

'My vote for Hillary Clinton is not a vote for Trump,” countered Tammy Wawro of Cedar Rapids, president of the Iowa State Education Association. 'It's a vote for our kids,” the fifth-grade teacher said.

Citing a private conversation with Sanders, who he described as one of his 'closest personal friends,” following the candidate's Monday night address to the convention, retired Sen. Tom Harkin asked that regardless how they cast their roll call vote, they join him and Sanders in supporting Clinton in November.

Sanders told Harkin in a private conversation Monday night that he is committed to 'taking this revolution as he calls it, this movement, this progressive movement in America and continuing it onward” by working with Wellstone Action and other progressive groups.

And he reminded delegates, many of them much younger, that he once was in their shoes.

'I appreciate where you are coming from,” Harkin said. 'I was one of you many years ago when I got out of the military in 1968 and had lost too many friends in Vietnam. I supported Gene McCarthy.”

The Minnesota Democratic senator 'was sort of the Bernie Sanders of that time.”

Like Sanders, he didn't get the nomination, 'but I think we made some progress in moving the Democratic Party more toward the progressive end of the spectrum.”

Like Harkin, Chris Petersen of Clear Lake said he is old enough to remember those times. He supported Bobby Kennedy in 1968. This year, he's supporting Sanders.

Brent Oleson of Marion cast his vote for Sanders, too, but added, 'In November I will vote for the winner tonight.”

For some Sanders backers it was not just the disappointment of losing the campaign. They were disappointed and angry about leaked emails that seem to confirm their suspicions that the Democratic National Committee may have been working for Clinton and against Sanders.

David Johnson of West Branch called for a housecleaning to extend beyond the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

'If not, we run the risk of losing young Democrats who will ask, ‘What was the point?'” he said.

Gillian Popenuk of Burlington will stay and fight to 'pull the party back to the left where it belongs.”

Clinton supporter Zach Wahls of Iowa City won applause when he acknowledged the frustration of the Sanders delegates who thought the primary system was rigged against their candidate.

'After reading those emails, I agree,” he said.