DENVER (KCBS/AP) -- Democrats were on edge Tuesday as they waited to hear Hillary Rodham Clinton's prime-time speech on party unity, with some of her supporters saying they don't know what to do and others, such as the dozens of California Clinton delegates who wore gags at an impromptu caucus, provoking confrontations. “We need to vote for her on the first ballot,” said famed Los Angeles Attorney at that rally, called supporters said because they were denied the opportunity for a formal meeting.
Senator Clinton is expected to tell her delegates tomorrow to support Barck Obama, an instruction many in the California delegation told KCBS’s Doug Sovern at the convention they would have trouble following.
“The frustration I have is that we’re just being gagged, and it’s not democracy,” said Patricia Bakalian of Santa Cruz.
Convention Speeches and More on "Sovern Nation"
That sentiment was far from universal, but many delegates pledged to Clinton from other states also remained ambivalent about whether the Illinois senator should be nominated by acclamation.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter backed Clinton in the primary, but said he still isn't clear if he's supposed to vote for her in Wednesday's roll call of the states due to what he called a lack of clarity from either the Clinton or Obama camps about the roll-call process.
"Just tell me what you want me to do," he said in an Associated Press interview, throwing up his hands and rolling his eyes.
He said he doesn't think the process really matters, because in the end Obama will be the nominee no matter what and the party will rally behind him.
In a separate interview, former Democratic Party Chairman Don Fowler, a Clinton supporter, said he remained uneasy about the attitudes of some Clinton delegates.
"It seems to be a little more of a problem than I anticipated," Fowler said. "There is some risk involved. ... All you need is 200 people in that crowd to boo and stuff like that and it will be replayed 900 times. And that's not what you want out of this."
The hand-wringing played out as Clinton paid a morning visit to the Pepsi Center with daughter Chelsea to check out the podium where she was to deliver her evening speech.
There were already signs of strain in the morning at a meeting of Democratic women.
Businesswoman Sheila Johnson, who is the owner of the Washington Mystics basketball team and an African-American, was imploring the crowd not to let voters get distracted by Obama's mixed race heritage or his unusual name when a man wearing a "Hillary" button called out from the crowd.
"Hussein! Hussein!" yelled the man, a reference to Obama's middle name. Many in the crowd leapt to their feet, shaking noisy tambourines at him and drowning him out.
The man, Igor Zhivotovksy from New York City, said later he is a strong Clinton backer who thinks she was cheated out of the nomination _ and he doesn't like Obama.
"We just finished getting rid of a guy named Hussein in Iraq and why are we trying to elect someone with the same name?" said Zhivotovsky. "Everybody thinks if you're against Obama you're racist."
(jro)
KCBS' Doug Sovern reports
