Clinton delegates emerge from their journey

DENVER - For some Hillary Clinton supporters, changing allegiance to Barack Obama after the presidential primary was not like flipping a light switch. Far from it.

"I don't know if it is so simple," Seattle's David Kunselman said of the idea of switching his support. "There was a lot of emotion, a lot of time, a lot of commitment.

"The intellectual aspect of it is easy," he continued, "but it was a process to actually get there."

He voted for Hillary in today's roll call, but said he would "certainly" leave the convention looking forward to voting for Barack Obama in November. He had nothing against Obama to begin with, he just felt that Hillary was the superior of two great candidates.

Elizabeth Wilmott, also of Seattle, had similar thoughts. She, too voted for Clinton today and was helped along by Hillary's own words.

Senator Clinton herself said it so eloquently last night, what were you aiming for" issue-wise. Her support for Senator Clinton was seventy-five percent issue based around things like climate change, Iraq and America's standing in the world, but the other twenty-five percent was what locked her in and made the reality of Obama's nomination all the more difficult.

"As I became invested, I really did become tied to her as a person," Wilmott said.

But she, too, will be supporting Barack Obama wholeheartedly this fall.

"It was the right thing to do," she felt.

Kunselman and Wilmott are also both soothed by the idea that, as Kunselman put it, "the important thing to remember is that she's not going away. She is going to be a big part of the Obama presidency in terms of support."

Wilmott added that losing the nomination might actually be better for Hillary and the country. She pointed to the difference Al Gore has made on the issue of climate change as a private citizen since losing the presidency in 2000.

"I feel like she will rise to the occasion," Wilmott said. "She will create something out of whole cloth that will blow our minds. The best is yet to come from her."

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