Saturday May 17, 2008

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton continues to vow to wage the democratic presidential nomination battle until there's a nominee.

On Saturday Virginia's 5th District democrats got together to decide exactly who will be casting votes at the Democratic National Convention in August and which candidate they'll support.

"I think most of the people are probably willing to say 'stay in as long as there's voting going on,' but I think at the point when that is over, if it stays the way it is today, there will be intense pressure on [Clinton] to stop," explained District Chairman Fred Hudson.

By this time next month, all the democratic primaries will be done and most democrats hope they'll have one candidate to unite behind heading into the Denver convention.

On Saturday democrats from Greene all the way down to Mecklenberg County got together to figure out just who will be going to the convention. There were several votes at the 5th District Convention, but in the end Obama supporters Fred Hudson, Penny Blue and Kristin Szakos, as well as Clinton backer Mike Mays won the right to represent the region in August.

Also on hand was Tom Periello, who Saturday officially won his party's nomination for the district's congressional seat.

"Right now, I think the biggest difference we need in politics is people more interested in problem solving than partisanship and that's been my background," Periello explained.

In facing incumbent Virgil Goode this November, Periello will share the same ticket with U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner as well as whichever democrat comes away with the party's presidential nomination.

"I think regardless of who you support," Periello explained, "seeing so many people involved in the political process is a great thing for our democracy and our country."

The proportion of delegates, three for Obama, one for Clinton, was set by the state democratic party after Obama's victory here in February.