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Democratic Convention: Sanders Supporters Rail Against Clinton
Democratic Convention Day 1 Takeaways: Michelle Obama Steals the Show
(about 4 hours later)
Right Now: Watch the first night of the Democratic convention and get real-time analysis, or just get the highlights.
PHILADELPHIA — The Democratic National Convention began with the ouster of the party’s chairwoman, protests in the streets, disruptions on the convention floor and a torrential thunderstorm. Facing the prospect of chaos, an array of party leaders — including Michelle Obama, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — moved to heal the breach in the party, seemingly with some success. Our takeaways:
PHILADELPHIA — Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders took a hard turn against Hillary Clinton’s campaign Monday, as the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Philadelphia. Mr. Sanders was met with boos as he asked his fans to support Mrs. Clinton. And protesters borrowed the “Lock her up!” chant from last week’s Republican convention.
It’s Hillary Clinton’s convention, and it was Mr. Sanders’s big night. But the unquestioned star of the program on Monday was Mrs. Obama, who used her prime-time speech to describe an optimistic, confident view of American social progress, and to embrace Mrs. Clinton as the natural heir to the Obama presidency.
The fallout from the Democrats’ email leak continued, as Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz faced a chorus of jeers when she addressed a breakfast meeting of Florida delegates and later said she would not gavel in the convention on Monday
She praised Mrs. Clinton as a big-hearted public servant and as a political survivor, and rebuked Donald J. Trump as a bully without mentioning his name. Most important, Mrs. Obama wrapped her speech in a sunny narrative about what the country has accomplished during her husband’s presidency, celebrating the image of a black family in the White House and casting Mrs. Clinton’s election as a similar milestone.
Hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters drowned out the Vermont senator with boos Monday as he tried to make the case that his fans would need to vote for Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald J. Trump.
“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great,” Mrs. Obama said. “This, right now, is the greatest country on earth.”
At a meeting filled with Sanders delegates, Mr. Sanders tried to convince those gathered that Mr. Trump was dangerous and a threat to the Constitution and that as a result, they needed to vote for Mrs. Clinton. However, as he made the argument, the crowd shouted over him and instead chanted, “We want Bernie.”
It was a strikingly positive speech in a bitter election season, and a vivid rendition of the political worldview that lifted the Obamas to the top of the party in the first place. The powerful response Mrs. Obama drew from the crowd showed just how formidable she is likely to be on the campaign trail.
“We have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Mr. Sanders said.
Mrs. Clinton needed a bear hug from liberal Democrats on Monday night to have any chance of easing tensions with supporters of Mr. Sanders, who entered the convention in a state of rage over the Democratic National Committee’s meddling role in the 2016 primaries.
His words were immediately met with loud boos, which lasted several seconds even as he tried to continue his speech. The senator then paused and waited for people to quiet down. But as he spoke, many continued to loudly sigh and shake their heads.
And a bear hug is what Mrs. Clinton got, most crucially from Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren. In a speech that celebrated his own victories at length, Mr. Sanders also gave Mrs. Clinton his full-throated backing. “Hillary Clinton,” he said, “must become the next president of the United States.”
If there was one thing Hillary Clinton didn’t need as she prepared to accept her party’s presidential nomination this week, it was another email scandal.
Ms. Warren delivered a string of sharp attacks on Mr. Trump, while praising Mrs. Clinton’s liberal agenda and urging Democrats to “work our hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next president.” Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, reminisced about Sanders rallies in his state, and said it was time to join forces with Mrs. Clinton.
But the release of about 20,000 leaked emails — which suggested the party had worked to undermine the Sanders campaign and forced Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the party’s chairwoman, to announce her resignation on Sunday — is likely to continue fueling resentment among many of Mr. Sanders’s delegates at the convention.
Still, those testimonials are unlikely to placate the most agitated demonstrators in the streets of Philadelphia. The question now is how many of Mr. Sanders’s supporters are equally implacable.
Many of them booed loudly on Monday afternoon when Mr. Sanders addressed a group of his delegates and urged them to vote for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine.
At first, the program appeared headed for disaster, as pro-Sanders activists shouted angrily at even liberal Democrats like Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. The party barely averted an evening of unsightly clashes. By the start of the prime-time hours the rowdy heckling had largely abated — but not entirely.
“Brothers and sister, this is the real world that we live in,” Mr. Sanders said. “Trump is a bully and a demagogue.”
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, the Senate’s only black Democrat, was interrupted by chants of “Black lives matter.” Some attendees taunted Ms. Warren, too, calling out, “We trusted you!” — a reproach for supporting Mrs. Clinton.
The Vermont senator did not hide the satisfaction he felt about Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s downfall.
It’s not clear how big a chunk of Mr. Sanders’s coalition these disruptive voices represent. But their willingness to keep jeering at the party’s top leaders promises to keep cramping the proceedings as the week goes on.
“As I think all of you know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned yesterday as chair of the D.N.C.,” he said to applause. “Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of a Democratic Party that will stand with working people.”
The unifying theme at the Republican convention last week was fierce opposition to Mrs. Clinton. Her name was a rallying cry starting on the first night, as a jumbled collection of speakers railed against familiar offenses: her use of a private email server, her handling of the Benghazi, Libya, attack and more.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign had hoped that the convention would showcase unity in the party after a bruising and divisive nomination contest whose outcome left many young and liberal Democrats less than satisfied. Instead, the emails — which reveal snarky, blunt criticism of Mr. Sanders by top Democratic National Committee officials — could amplify the frustration felt by his delegates about what they consider a rigged process.
Mr. Trump has not yet taken such a central place in the Democratic convention. He was the target of attacks from a number of speakers, especially Ms. Warren, but anti-Trump riffs from other speakers were not surefire crowd pleasers, and the mere utterance of his name did not seem to electrify the audience.
Some Democrats said that the outgoing chair should not be wielding the gavel at the convention because of the controversy. However, Robby Mook, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, said that Ms. Wasserman Schultz was entitled to do so.
That may change as the week progresses, and the focus of the convention shifts from achieving party unity to winning the general election. But on Monday, Mr. Trump was often relegated to his least favorite place: the background.
“She’s put in a lot of work,” Mr. Mook said a Bloomberg Politics breakfast. “She’s going to be gaveling in this convention.”
Former Vice President Al Gore will not attend the Democratic National Convention this week, but he will vote for Mrs. Clinton in November.
Mr. Gore, in a series of posts on Twitter, cited Mrs. Clinton’s strong qualifications and her commitment to protecting the environment as reasons he backed her.
He encouraged everyone to follow his lead.
Mr. Trump is benefiting from a healthy post-convention bounce. A new national poll of registered voters from CNN/ORC shows Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, leading Mrs. Clinton 44 percent to 39 percent in a four-way race including Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.
In a head-to-head matchup, Mr. Trump leads Mrs. Clinton by three points.
The results represent a big swing for Mr. Trump, who was trailing Mrs. Clinton by five points earlier this month in CNN’s poll that included all four candidates.
Mrs. Clinton continues to face questions from voters about her honesty, while the Republican National Convention was generally well received.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
His supporters may not like it, but Mr. Sanders has acknowledged defeat and endorsed Mrs. Clinton. Even so, on Monday, he will get one last chance to push his agenda in front of an audience of millions.
In appearances on news programs on Sunday morning, Mr. Sanders made it clear that he will use his speech to continue pressing for an ideological revolution that advances party priorities like a higher minimum wage, government health care, breaking up big banks and rebuilding infrastructure.
And though Mr. Sanders, who called for a broad overhaul of the party’s nominating process, was Mrs. Clinton’s chief rival during the primaries, his appearance at the convention is unlikely to produce controversy like that of Senator Ted Cruz at the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland. Mr. Sanders has already been clear that he hopes Mrs. Clinton will win in November.
“Right now, we have got to defeat Trump; we have to elect Hillary Clinton,” he said on “This Week,” referring to the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump.
Mrs. Obama may cherish the idea of receding from the spotlight, but on Monday night she will make one last appearance on the big stage. Her speech will serve partly to begin the transition of the Democratic Party from her husband to Mrs. Clinton.
Mrs. Obama, who remains among the most popular figures in the party, may be one of the most effective advocates for Mrs. Clinton when it comes to the Obama coalition: young people, African-Americans and Latinos. Her convention speech will be an opportunity to argue that her husband’s constituency should be Mrs. Clinton’s, as well.
One question is how much Mrs. Obama will touch on the racial tensions that have gripped the country in the past several months after police shootings in several major cities.
Either way, Mrs. Obama will probably get a rousing response from conventiongoers, for many of whom the speech is likely to be the last time they see her in person.
Take a look:
• Anastasia Somoza, an advocate for Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Astrid Silva, a Mexican immigrant who has who has benefited from Mr. Obama’s executive actions deferring deportation
• Richard L. Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Read our interview with him.
• Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
• Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Clinton’s chief rival for the Democratic nomination
