Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

For 40 years, conventions have just been big TV shows that coronate nominees, and this year's festivities aren't going to be any different. But the extraordinary closeness of the Democratic contest and recent comments by Hillary and Bill Clinton have the media in a tizzy. Could we see a donnybrook in Denver after all?

-- JONATHAN ALTER

To the untrained eye, they seem to be overspreading the Democratic Convention like those kudzu vines that grow a foot every day to eventually blot out everything in sight, but the Clintons insist they are doing it all for Barack Obama. Hillary will speak one night and Bill will hold forth the next after, if all goes according to their plan, Clinton supporters get "catharsis" by nominating her and, in her words, "yell and scream and have their opportunity." In the Denver streets outside, a grassroots group will be marching and holding a festival "to celebrate Clinton's achievement and advocate for women's rights." All this, according to Hillary, is for the benefit of Obama: "We do not want any Democrat in the hall or in the stadium or at home walking away saying, 'I'm just not satisfied, I'm not happy.' That’s what I’m trying to avoid."

-- ROBERT STEIN

Obama is farther ahead winning over Clinton supporters than she is toward gaining the good will of Obama supporters, particularly of the younger generations that weren't old enough to vote during the Clinton era and were never bedazzled by them to begin with. One major misstep or sloppy moment on her part in Denver and the easy play for the Obama campaign would be to use her - and the Clinton legacy - as a handkerchief into which to blow its nose: a signal to Independent voters out there that there's a new sheriff in town and to get out their pitchforks and torches and join the posse.

-- BOOMAN

For those who miss those halcyon days when Hillary Clinton was impeding Barack Obama’s journey to the White House – the drama may not be over yet. In a move that should surprise no one who's followed the uninhibited ambition of the Clintons, Hillary Clinton has been caught telling a California reception that she thinks it could be good for the party if her delegates went ahead and nominated her at the upcoming convention.

That's right. Clinton believes Democrats could benefit if her supporters made a symbolic show of support for her. She called it "catharsis."Apparently, Clinton voters will happily flock to Obama just as soon as they’ve had the chance to voice how much they’d prefer if a different candidate received the nomination.

The Obama campaign has, as you would expect, released statements saying the Clintons fully support Obama and there’s no ill will between them.

-- ALAN STEWART CARL

Egged on by die-hard supporters, Hillary Rodham Clinton is giving every indication that she will not go quietly or meekly into the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month.

But amid the standoff between Clinton and Barack Obama, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was given a prime speaking role on Aug. 27, the same night as the vice presidential nominee, CNN reported Thursday night.

Even as Hillary Clinton heads to Las Vegas today in her first solo trip to campaign for Obama, she is holding out the prospect of a drawn-out nominating vote that experts say at best would be a distraction and at worst a disaster. Though Obama is to be formally nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate in just three weeks, Clinton yesterday refused to say whether she'll demand that roll-call vote to highlight the delegates she won in the hotly contested primaries earlier this year.

Some experts say Clinton's refusal might stem from lingering hard feelings from the primaries, but others say she's probably just pressing her case in negotiations with the Obama camp.

-- TOM BRUNE and JANIE LORBER

The Democratic convention only spans four nights. Now, two of the four will feature prime-time speeches from Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Not too shabby.

I know the media would love there to be intra-party drama here, and would gladly exaggerate any lingering ill-will between the Democratic nominee and the candidate who came in a close second, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to make the case.

Isn’t the more interesting story that John McCain has no idea what to do with George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention and that Dick Cheney might not even show up at all?

-- STEVE BENEN

Cartoon by Glenn McCoy/Universal Press Syndicate