My first Presidential primary vote went to Gary Hart in 1984. He originally came to my attention as one of the "Atari Democrats" representing change and new thinking in the post-Great Society Democratic party. Unfortunately, in the first Superdelegate convention, he lost that year and, until this year, generally the candidate I supported in the primaries lost. Actually, in wrapping up the primaries with a convincing win in California after an analagous late streak, he arguably had a better case for the nomination than Sen. Clinton. Now Sen. Hart has some advice of how Sen. Clinton can handle herself in a similar situation to the one he found himself in.
http://www.observer.com/...
First,
Mr. Hart believes that Mrs. Clinton could, if she wanted to, bring her candidacy to the August convention in Denver without threatening party unity.
"If [she and Obama] have a discussion—or even if their top people have a discussion—and her attitude is ‘I am not going to pursue more delegates but I intend to let my supporters put my name in nomination at the convention and I simply want you to know that,’ and then she suspends both in-front-of-the-scenes and behind-the-scenes campaigning, that’s not a real threat to him."
That’s not exactly the course that Mr. Hart chose for himself 24 years ago
Also Hart was a real possiblity for V.P. but he says he never really pursued it and was glad for it.
Finally,
At the convention, Mr. Hart’s name was entered into nomination, but when Mr. Mondale went over the top, Mr. Hart immediately asked that his name be withdrawn and that Mr. Mondale be nominated by acclamation. The next morning, he met with Mr. Mondale, promised to vigorously campaign for him, and then went out and did just that—totaling, by his count, 50 to 60 campaign stops for his former foe in the fall.
"I think she’s got to do the same," Mr. Hart said. "Whatever happens, she has to do her best to get Barack Obama elected president. She can’t pull punches or be cute about it. She’s got to work hard."
And, he added, even if she suspends her campaign beforehand, she should keep an eye on her delegates at the convention: "It’s not in her interest, and I would think her key supporters would want to keep from happening in Denver what happened at that [DNC] meeting in Washington, D.C. It’s a black eye for her. These people might think they’re helping her, but they’re not."
I think Sen. Clinton should closely examine Sen. Hart's gracious example in an equally hard-fought campaign. I am not really sure where the anger from her and her supporters toward Sen. Obama is coming from but she would be well-served to get over it and move forward as Sen. Hart did.