Arkansas Democrats look to convention without Gwatney

DENVER Democrats will still make history this week when they name Barack Obama the first-ever black major party presidential nominee.

Arkansans by the dozens will still cheer for Hillary Clinton, the adopted Arkansan who routed Obama in the state and has the lion's share of Natural State delegates in her corner.

They will still go to the parties, the receptions and the daily 7:30 a.m. delegate breakfasts.

All this, and they will still have heavy hearts less than two weeks after state party chairman Bill Gwatney was shot and killed inside the party's Little Rock headquarters.

The 47-member delegation slouches toward the Mile High City for the massive every-four-years celebration. State party leaders will try to keep spirits high at the event.

"Yes, you'll have those (somber) moments, but overall they'll want to truly honor the chairman by doing what Arkansans do best: moving forward in spite of all of it," said Lottie Shackelford, an Arkansas superdelegate and vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Gwatney was killed by gunman Timothy Johnson of Searcy, who forced his way into the chairman's office. Johnson later died in a shootout with police.

The delegation will remember Gwatney with a special design on the delegation's official lapel pin: A red, white and blue Godzilla figure set against an outline of the state, with bold "Gwatzilla" lettering across the upper left corner.

Gwatney earned the nickname "Gwatzilla" for the large, inflatable Godzilla at his auto dealerships and his tenacity as a state senator.

Gwatney would have turned 49 on Tuesday and Democrats were to celebrate the milestone at a delegation party at a downtown Denver nightspot.

"We were looking forward to celebrating with him all of next week," said Diana Gonzales Worthen, a delegate from Springdale. "We're going to be there, and his spirit will be with us."

Democrats picked Gwatney's widow, Rebecca, to take his place as a convention superdelegate.

Karla Bradley, first vice chairman of the state party, will chair the Arkansas delegation in Denver.

"Arkansans are a resilient group of people, and even in the midst of sorrow and those types of feelings, one continues to experience the important events one's involved in," Bradley said.

It would be unfair to first-time delegates who may never again attend a convention to scale back activities for the week, she added.

"We're a family, and family experiences all sorts of emotions," Bradley said. "Families experience all sorts of events and their love and common purpose hold them together."

That common purpose may be a tricky situation for a delegation so overwhelmingly lopsided in favor of Clinton, who narrowly lost her presidential bid but won 70 percent of the vote in the Arkansas primary.

The state's former first lady has 23 pledged delegates behind her. All but one superdelegate the state's party leaders and elected officials had endorsed Clinton.

The superdelegates have all said they would support Obama's nomination, even if some of them are lukewarm about it.

Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, responded with an unenthusiastic "sure" to a question about whether he backed Obama.

But Berry said others read too much into the apparent rivalry between Obama and Clinton camps. Democrats will emerge from Denver unified after Obama makes his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 people at Denver's football stadium, he predicted.

"The Clinton supporters are still generally disappointed, but that's all going away," Berry said. "Really, we're all too busy to be engaged in hurt feelings and that sort of thing. That doesn't work too well in politics, anyway."

Worthen and Susana O'Daniel, a Washington County delegate pledged to Clinton, said they want to make sure Clinton's achievements are appropriately noted during the convention, and chances are that's likely.

The Obama campaign has agreed to allow Clinton's name to be formally placed in nomination. She has a prime speaking spot Tuesday. Former President Clinton will address delegates Monday.

"I am a delegate representing the voters of Arkansas," O'Daniel said. "My undergraduate degree is in history and American studies. For me as a student of history, it's important to vote for her and get that recorded."

"I feel after those voters are counted, if and when Barack Obama becomes the nominee, that's the moment that we as a party move forward," she added.

Shackelford said she hasn't sensed any in-fighting among the delegation over Clinton or Obama.

Delegates who cast their first votes for Clinton but then nominate Obama aren't necessarily dissatisfied with the party, Shackelford said.

Looking forward, the delegation's numbers split doesn't mean Obama is an underdog in Arkansas either, said Berry, even though most polls note presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has a big lead among likely voters in the state.

"I just think it's way too early," Berry said. "Gosh, we're under 100 days but, man, in politics, that's like years. You just have to wait until the time gets closer and this will all play out in due course."

Arkansas delegates were staying at the same suburban Denver hotel as the delegation from Delaware, which celebrated Saturday Obama's pick of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., to be his running mate.

Also in the same hotel is the Hawaii delegation. Obama spent his high school years in Hawaii. Obama's sister is the guest speaker at the Natural State's delegation breakfast Thursday.

"I think we're in the place to be," said David Whitaker, a Fayetteville attorney who is a delegate for Obama. "I'm absolutely thrilled."

The Arkansas Republican party quickly responded to Biden s selection with a statement calling the vice presidential pick "out of touch" with Arkansans.

"I am confident that Arkansans will quickly recognize the stark difference between their values and hopes for our next commander-in-chief and what an Obama-Biden presidency would mean for our country," said state GOP chairman Dennis Milligan.

Whitaker countered that Biden's long tenure in the Senate, where he has chaired the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committee, make him a solid pick.

"The folks in Arkansas are concerned about our national security and America's standing in the world," he said. "I don't think those are issues that are in the dark for the people of Arkansas."