The Democratic National Convention that begins on Monday was meant to be a show of unity between presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, her challenger in the primaries. But the grand show could be blighted by leaked emails that suggest that the Democratic leadership sought to undermine Mr. Sanders during the primaries and a CNN opinion poll released on the morning of the convention that showed Ms. Clinton at her lowest level of popularity.
The four-day convention will conclude the nomination process and Ms. Clinton will make her acceptance speech on Thursday. President Barack Obama will address the convention on Wednesday evening.
Now, Trump coming trumps
Republican nominee Donald Trump leads Ms. Clinton by three percentage points, 48 to 45, in two-way matchup in the CNN poll. In a four-corner comparison including Gary Johnson and Jill Stein — two other candidates in the field — Mr. Trump leads Ms. Clinton by five percentage points. More disturbingly for the Clinton campaign, her unfavourability rating is going up, while Mr. Trump’s favourability rating is going up.
But the fresh turmoil in the tent is Ms. Clinton’s immediate concern as the convention opens. The email exchanges between Democratic National Committee staffers leaked last week validate a concern that Mr. Sanders has continuously raised through the primary campaign – that the leadership was favouring Ms. Clinton.
‘Shame, shame’
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as the chair of the committee, as Sanders supporters erupted in protest but not before President Barack Obama intervened and nudged her to call it a day on Sunday. There are conflicting reports on whether she would be speaking at the Convention, but if she does, there will be unpleasant moments. Delegates shouted “shame, shame,” as she rose to address a breakfast meeting of delegates from her home state of Florida on Monday, ahead of the convention.
In one email, the Committee staffers discussed the possibility of raking up Mr. Sanders’s religion to put him on the defensive. “Does he believe in a God? He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist,” an official wrote.
A new direction for party?
Mr. Sanders, who has endorsed Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s primary challenger in Congressional primaries, welcomed her decision to quit, and reiterated his support for Ms. Clinton. In the opening evening of the convention, Mr. Sanders is expected to talk about a “new direction” for the party, which he has been championing. First Lady Michelle Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren are the other primetime speakers on the first day.
Mr. Sanders – increasingly concerned by the rise of Mr. Trump — is expected to offer Ms. Clinton a full-throated endorsement, but the frayed tempers of his supporters may not be easily soothed. Ms. Clinton’s decision to pick Virginia senator Tim Kaine — a supporter of free trade and connected to big businesses — has left the Bernie constituency seething. The choice of the VP candidate has already strained the fragile peace between Mr. Sanders and Ms. Clinton.
Just like the Republican Convention
The Democratic convention may thus end up being a mirror image of the Republican Convention last week, wherein the enemy is the only unifying factor for an otherwise fractious gathering.
The Clinton campaign has blamed Russian hackers for the email leak, and suggested that it might be an attempt to help Mr. Trump. The party maintains that the target of the hackers was the research on Mr. Trump.
