Obama wins Nevada Dem Convention; Bill Clinton reverses position about Party

It was a great day at the Nevada State Democratic Party Convention with Barack Obama winning another delegate, leaving the score at 14 to 11.

But the most noticeable shocker of all was the positive position of our former President Bill Clinton who showed up on behalf of his wife and presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. He encouraged party unity and urged the energy to be focused on going after the GOP. Nevada Appeal

Clinton told delegates to the convention at Reno's Grand Sierra Resort they must pull together once the nominee is selected "to ensure a victory for the ordinary Americans who desperately need a victory."

"Obviously I have a preference in this primary, but here's what I want to tell you: I think it's important as Democrats that we act like Democrats and make it absolutely clear that once everyone has voted and once the votes are all counted that we're going to be united," Clinton said.

He said the nation has gotten a clear look at what the Republicans would do if they took control. The result, Clinton said, is that 1 percent of the nation got 43 percent of the economic benefits.

"Our country used to attack Latin American dictatorships for that kind of policy," he said. "You cannot run a middle class country without shared prosperity."

Nowhere to be found was the attitude expressed just a mere four days earlier in Montana:

MISSOULA, MT -- Bill Clinton today made an expanded and direct argument for seating Florida and Michigan delegates, suggesting his wife is being punished and arguing that Obama's campaign opposed a re-vote.

“I never thought it would be the Democratic Party that didn’t want to count votes in Florida,” he said at a rally at the University of Montana. “I thought that was a Republican strategy -- or strategery as the case may be. And I just ask you all this, do you really believe Florida would be getting this kind of treatment if the vote had turned out the other way?”

For more than six minutes, Clinton went through the timeline of how both states lost their delegates, and who was to blame. While he has made the case before, he placed new emphasis on it today, as it becomes clearer that seating the delegates from both states is one of the few remaining options to help Hillary Clinton defeat Obama. MSNBC

Is there a joint ticket in the running now that former presidential candidate John Edwards has announced support for Barack Obama and announced he is not interested in the Vice President slot right in the middle of these two events this week?

Former presidential contender John Edwards said on Friday he would not be Democratic front-runner Barack Obama's running mate, but did not rule out taking a role in an Obama administration. Reuters

The media seems to think it is a bad idea this morning:

Obama has run his campaign on the premise the country doesn't need another third-term presidency, either a third Clinton term with Hillary or a third Bush term with John McCain. Why would he torpedo that message by taking on all the old Clinton baggage and all the new GOP opposition research that comes with it?
Edmonton Sun

Also:

Analysts see mostly problems with Hillary on ticket . . . and then there's the Bill factor

WASHINGTON–For the Clintons, the final days of the Democratic presidential nomination race have become a series of betrayals – a daily dance of disloyalty that is colouring questions about Hillary Clinton's future role in the party. The Star

So now, the question remains, how come Bill Clinton was so "kumbaya" at the Nevada State Democratic Convention yesterday? Everyone I talked to there was shocked but pleased he came out in a positive, unified fashion. Something is up.