Note: this started out as a self-directed satire, but as it fleshed out, I saw something quite odd. I'm hoping you do as well. All private citizen names have been altered, and the party affiliations reversed except where appropriate.

Dozens of Democratic delegates launch new push to halt Hillary Clinton
What Hillary Clinton is doing on the campaign trail

SOS Hillary Clinton has become the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president.
By Red Okiefeet June 17 at 3:58 PM

Dozens of Democratic convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Hillary Clinton at this summer’s party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the SOS from becoming the Democratic nominee.

The moves come amid declining poll numbers for Clinton and growing concerns among Democrats that Clinton is squandering her chance to defeat Republican Donald Trump. Missing out on potential gains from his several controversies — including his racial attacks on a federal judge, renewing his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and support for changing the nation’s gun laws — have raised concerns among Democrats that Clinton is not really a progressive and is too reckless to run a successful race.

Given the strife, a growing group of anti-Clinton delegates are convinced that enough like-minded Democrats will band together in the next month to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for whomever they want, regardless of who won state caucuses and primaries - even Bernie Sanders.

The new push is being run by the only people who can actually make changes to party rules, rather than by pundits and media figures who have been pining for a Clinton alternative. Many of the delegates involved supported Sen. Sanders of Vermont in the primary but say they are not taking cues from any of Clinton’s vanquished opponents.

“This literally is an ‘Anybody but Clinton’ movement,” said Undal Kenruh, a Democratic delegate from Colorado who is leading the campaign. “Everybody has an idea who is going to step in and be the nominee, but we’re not worried about that right now. We’re just doing that job to make sure that she’s not the face of our party.”

The new wave of anti-Clinton organizing comes as an increasing number of prominent Democrats have signalled they will not support Clinton for president.

In addition, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is slated to attend the Democratic National Convention next month in Philadelphia, said in remarks released Friday that House Democrats should “follow their conscience” on whether to support Clinton.

“The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their conscience,” Pelosi said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press airing on Sunday.

Pelosi has endorsed Clinton. But her use of the word “conscience” could prove helpful to delegates organizing the anti-Clinton campaign because they are seeking to pass a “conscience clause” that would unbind delegates and allow them to vote for anyone.

In a statement Friday, Clinton dismissed the plots against her.

“I won by almost 14 million votes, which is by far more votes than any candidate in the history of the Democratic primaries,” Clinton said. “Even before the primaries began, I had tremendous support and got the biggest crowds by far, and any such move would not only be totally illegal but also a rebuke of the millions of people's dollars spent so strongly to support what I am saying.”

She added, “People that I defeated soundly in the primaries will do anything to get a second shot — but there is no mechanism for it to happen.”

Delegates involved in the effort disagree, but their plans face steep difficulties and would require rapid coordination among the thousands headed to Philadelphia next month. Previous attempts to field a Clinton opponent or to use convention rules to stop her have quickly fizzled, but the new fight revives the possibility of a contested convention.

The campaign kicked off in earnest Thursday night on a conference call with at least 30 delegates from 15 states, according to multiple participants. Kenruh and Thomson Regina, another Colorado Democratic delegate, have recruited regional coordinators in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Washington and other states.

[Some progressives are still moving to stop Clinton at the Democratic convention]

Min Ericor, a Democratic delegate from Washington state, said he felt compelled to join Kenruh’s group because “I hear a lot of people saying, ‘Why doesn’t somebody do something about this?’ Well you know what, I’m one of the people who can. There’s only 2.4 million of us. I’m going to reach out to us and see if there seems to be momentum for this. And if there is, we’ll see where it goes.”

Velon Egan, a veteran Democratic operative from New Jersey, is not a delegate but is advising the group and building financial support through a super PAC, Terrapin Progressives, that backed O'Malley in the primary. The group has said it is willing to spend money on advertising and to help delegates across the country find each other.

Ever since Clinton reached the threshold for clinching the Democratic nomination last month, “I’ve woken up every day struggling to accept that she’s going to be our candidate,” Egan said. “She’s spent more time talking about getting Bernie Sanders voters to vote for her than demonstrating she's a progressive. What do you think she has that Bernie Sanders’s supporters would like? A secret socialist agenda?”

Kenruh, Ericor, Egan and a number of others involved in the effort are former O'Malley supporters, but insist they are not working on his behalf. O'Malley has said that he would not accept the presidential nomination as a result of an attempt to strip Clinton of the prize.

Other top officials, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), said this week that they will not back Clinton despite their opposition to Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that he’s not yet ready to support Clinton. Yet Richard Armitage, a deputy secretary of state in George W. Bush’s administration who is close with other members of the party’s national security establishment, announced plans to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton if Clinton is nominated.

[Even one of Hillary Clinton’s most ardent Capitol Hill backers is exasperated]

“This set of scandals isn’t going to go away,” warned Stone Cecimetz, a delegate from Iowa participating in the new campaign. “Clinton or others might say that these are just little groups who won’t do anything and it’ll fizz out — that’s not going to happen. Clinton just continues to embarrass herself and her party and this is not going to let up.”

Several factors will complicate any attempt to stop Clinton.

First, Kenruh’s plan to unbind the delegates will need support from a majority of the convention rules committee, which is scheduled to meet just a few days before the convention formally convenes. If the proposal passes the committee, it would need to be ratified by a majority of convention delegates the following week.

Secondly, several delegates are deeply concerned about what they claim are intimidation tactics by Clinton, her campaign and some state party leaders.

One delegate, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, wrote in an email that during his state party’s first convention organizing meeting, party leaders told the delegation that if they don’t vote for Clinton, “we would be removed from the floor and replaced with an alternate.”

Recruiting like-minded delegates may also be difficult, because the Democratic National Committee has yet to release a list of the thousands of people elected to travel to Philadelphia as delegates or alternates. A final list of names from each state and territory was due to the DNC on Monday, and party officials are reviewing the names to ensure that no elected delegate or alternate has a criminal record, according to party officials.

Privately, some DNC officials say they doubt a full list will be released ahead of time.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and other top leaders have said delegates are not required to reflect the results of state contests.

In response, a group of veteran Democratic operatives is planning to raise up to $2.5 million to run an advertising campaign arguing that delegates can do whatever they want. The Citizens of Change Foundation plans to bankroll the outreach campaign. It already paid for the publication of a book by Hurly Caugland, a Democratic delegate from North Dakota, who argues that delegates are already free to vote for anyone.

“It’s not an effort for a candidate or against a candidate, but it’s an effort to educate people on what their real authority is and have them get the comfort that they’re not alone,” said Keefe E O’ric, a party operative based in Detroit who is a member of the group. “There’s a whole network of like-minded people.”

“This is not a play for Biden or O'Malley or Pelosi,” O’ric said. “I trust the delegates that if they understand their authority, they’ll nominate a good ticket.”

Adapted from the contents of this original article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dozens-of-Democratic-delegates-l...

Not so unbelievable, is it?