If you want to have the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders divide explained in two sound bites, you could do worse than Jack Smith and Pamela Eakes.
I spent the first day at the Democratic National Convention getting a feel for our Washington state Democrats.
Smith drove all the way from Seattle to Philadelphia for the convention. That’s more than 40 hours, and he’s not even a delegate.
He is however the father of a Sanders delegate, and a staunch supporter himself.
I talked to him Monday morning at the delegates' breakfast at their hotel.
Smith said he expects most Washington delegates will end up supporting Clinton come November, especially if Sanders advocates for that in his speech Monday night.
But Smith won’t follow suit. His comments are reminiscent of the Washington delegates who support Ted Cruz, and wanted to be able to “vote their conscience” last week at the Republican National Convention.
Smith says that if he can’t vote for Sanders, he either won’t vote or he’ll write in a third party.
While Smith was talking with me, his comments were overheard by Pamela Eakes, the floor captain for Washington’s Clinton delegates.
She approached me after the interview ended to say that attitude is irresponsible.
For his part, Sanders urged support in his speech Monday night at the convention. "Any objective observer will conclude that — based on her ideas and her leadership — Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close," he said.
