HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A leading supporter of Hillary Clinton, Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, swooped in to Florida's annual Democratic party dinner on Saturday to make the lead pitch for Barack Obama in a state that heavily favored Clinton in its Jan. 29 primary.
"You ain't seen nothing yet,"' Rendell said, pointing to the new Obama pin on his lapel. "If there are pessimists in this room who say we can't win Florida, just wait until you see the Barack Obama campaign in action."
But the disappointment was still palpable among Clinton's die-hard fans in the crowd of 1,500. Deferring to the crowd's loyalties, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton, co-chairman of Obama's campaign in Florida, paid tribute to Clinton's "extraordinary" campaign.
"Someone just offered me an Obama sticker, and I said, 'Please, let me heal a little bit longer,' " said Diana Wasserman-Rubin, a commissioner in Broward County, Florida's most solidly Democratic county. She said she's hoping Clinton will be Obama's VP pick. "Picking Hillary Clinton would be a sure way to get us to pick ourselves up again," she said.
"It's a tough crowd," said Richard Mead, treasurer of the Broward Democratic Party.
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