Dream ticket momentum gains strength

The political environment within the Democratic Party has changed significantly, which could back Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) into a corner and force him to select his rival as his running mate.

While the reasons for not picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) have been well-chronicled — former President Bill Clinton would be too overshadowing, the Clintons bring too much baggage, Obama has railed against Old Washington — the divisions in the Democratic Party have become potentially fatal and Obama could be forced into making a pick most observers would have never thought likely.

{mosads}Divisions in the party are very real, and they were on full display Saturday after the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) rules committee voted to partially restore the delegations of Florida and Michigan. The committee decided to seat the full delegations of both states but only give them half a vote.

At times throughout the day, there appeared to be two rival political parties in the room, as supporters of the two camps booed and hissed when the other candidate’s name was mentioned.

Clinton supporters were furious with the outcome, and they left the room promising not to vote for Obama if he wins the nomination, as he appears likely to do this week.

With about three months to go until the August Democratic National Convention and only five months until Election Day, Obama is running short on time to unify what is clearly a divided party.

Tapping Clinton as his lieutenant might help him accomplish in minutes something he might not be able to do in the remaining days of the campaign.

“It’s the easiest path to party unity,” one Democratic strategist said.

Perhaps sensing that, Clinton supporters like Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are openly pushing the idea, and in so doing they might be forcing Obama’s hand.

“Of course they’re trying to get Hillary selected as the vice presidential nominee,” the strategist said. “And it might work.”

Karen Thurman, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, became the most recent Democrat to support the so-called Dream Ticket, telling a Florida reporter that such a move would help unify the party.

Another Democratic strategist noted that while party division looks intense right now, it’s because the two candidates are still in the heat of battle.

But if “tempers cool,” the strategist said, and there is still a palpable degree of party disunity, then “picking Hillary for your VP is a must. It’s not even an option.”

Sam Arora, a former Clinton aide and one of the players behind VoteBoth.com — a website that has been pushing the idea of the Dream Ticket — said picking Clinton would turn whatever division exists into a net positive.

“I truly believe that a Dream Ticket would turn the intense party polarization into a huge strength going into November,” Arora said, pointing to the record turnout and fundraising that both candidates have enjoyed in the primaries. “I think it would be very powerful.”

And while Obama said Tuesday that he and Clinton will be “working together in November,” one source close to Obama and his campaign said political calculation will not fit into the Illinois senator’s VP selection process.

“He’s not going to use it for party unity,” the source said. “It’s not going to be about electability. It’s going to be about governance.”

However, the source conceded that looking for someone who would be a strong public servant and finding someone who is politically beneficial do not have to be exclusive of each other.

To that end, while unity clearly has to be a concern, other weaknesses in Obama’s candidacy have been exposed throughout the nomination battle, and Clinton could help him shore up some key constituencies.

Clinton’s primary wins in places like the critical swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania and to a lesser extent West Virginia and Kentucky demonstrated that Obama lags with white, blue-collar voters. With her as his No. 2, and having won those states at the end of the primary calendar, she would be a powerful surrogate.

Hispanics are another key demographic where Obama has had trouble, and that was on display again Sunday as Clinton won Puerto Rico by a 2-to-1 margin.

While Puerto Rico isn’t an issue in November, Florida is, and Democratic officials have been saying for the last two years that their path to the presidency is going to go through the West and Southwest.

Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist supporting Obama, took issue with the need for Clinton on the ticket, although he acknowledged that “electorally, it makes sense in some ways.”

“The reality is most of the votes Hillary Clinton won, Barack Obama would get,” Simmons said. “Do you really think Hillary Clinton is going to win white, rural voters in the Midwest [in the general election]?”

Besides, Simmons said, Clinton might not want the job even if it is offered to her.

“She just spent the last two years getting out of the shadow of Bill Clinton,” Simmons said. “I don’t know why now she’d want to go get under the shadow of Barack Obama.”