Even after Hillary Clinton has conceded and asked her supporters to turn their passion for her candidacy into determination for getting a Democrat into the White House. But it is becoming more and more apparent that a lot of her supporters did not get the memo.
As Clinton wrapped up her remarks Saturday in Washington with a plea for supporters to work "as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me," many were posting messages saying they would never vote for the presumptive Democratic nominee. A few even called on her backers to visit Sen. John McCain's campaign Web site.
"I love her and will vote for her in 2012, but it's McCain all the way now," wrote one within moments of the former first lady's address.
Many others Democratic leaders like Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) are quietly trying to hold the Obama campaign hostage, in exchange for giving Hillary the VP spot.
"I've looked at every other possible candidate. No one brings to a ticket what Hillary brings," said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime Clinton supporter, in a televised interview.
"She has a very committed woman constituency, female constituency right now. She has proved herself. She has grown in the campaign. She has some constituencies that he needs ... It's such a natural to put these two together."
But any negotiator will tell you that the "taking of hostages" (or a poison pill) is the last act of the desperate. And it is invariably a losing position to take in order to get what you want, because any victory that can be gained ends up being Pyrrhic in the end.
The idea that these people need to understand is this.
WE. DON'T. NEED. THEM.
These people are not as numerous as their collective noise would tend to suggest. For most, their resolve is not going to last through the five months of having to listen to all of McCain's plans for the country. Most of the people who are talking about voting McCain as "revenge" live in states that are going are deepest of deep blue, like New York and California. And there are more red states in play this year (like Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona).
And most telling of all is in this USA Today article that breaks down a recent Rasmussen poll.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen says that as of today, based on 3,000 automated telephone surveys over the past three nights, Obama gets support from 52% of the women in his national tracking poll compared with 40% for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. He says that's better than Democrat John Kerry did with women against President Bush in 2004.
There is no need for us to negotiate with the sour grapes crowd that is threatening to take their ball and go home. There is no reason to make any concessions to them, or even acknowledge them. Though their voices are loud, their numbers are insignificant, and will make no difference come November.