Nancy Schumacher says she just wanted to do her civic duty, and so she heeded the call to become a superdelegate for Hillary Clinton. But in the year of the angry voter, not even an administrative assistant from Elk River, Minn., can escape the outrage.

“Some of the [phone and email] messages called me names. Some of them called Hillary names. And others said I was a stupid bitch and something bad will happen to me,” said Schumacher, a Democratic committee member. “It’s kind of hard to take sometimes.”
...
Barry Goodman, a personal injury lawyer in Detroit, suddenly found his firm’s Yelp business review page besieged by bad ratings.

“You deserve this rating. Why does some random lawyer get more sway than the citizens,” read one comment.

Gus Bickford, the former executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, was taken aback by the threats that flowed into his inbox and onto his Facebook page.

“Someone put up a list of the superdelegates and a person from Rhode Island posted a response that basically said, ‘They should all be assassinated’ and then said ‘I’m only joking,'” recalled Bickford. “With the way people are talking, you never know who’s going to take something like that seriously.”

http://fortune.com/2016/04/28/clinton-sanders-superdelegates-harassed/

..........Hillary was elected Student Body President at Wellesley College in 1968—after a three week campaign that saw her knocking door-to-door in every single dorm on campus. As president, she focused on making change happen, rather than making enemies: “Part of her skill was finding a careful middle ground that brought progress without engendering unnecessary enmity,” her biographer Carl Bernstein wrote. "Fellow students, even those uncomfortable with her politics, were drawn to Hillary’s natural warmth, humor, and obvious ability to get the job done. There was something both generous and gracious about her character that made people like being around her. She possessed a seemingly unselfish ability to praise others, recognize their personal concerns, remember meaningful details about their lives.”

What did she get done?

At Hillary’s insistence, a summer Upward Bound program for inner-city children was initiated on campus, antiwar activities were conducted in college facilities, the skirt rule had been rescinded, grades were given on a pass-fail basis, parietal rules were a thing of the past, interdisciplinary majors were permitted for the first time. —Carl Bernstein, 'A Woman in Charge'
Just a pause here—to explain parietal rules. Wellesley was a woman's college—one of the seven sister colleges that were made to mirror the all-male Ivy League schools of the day. As a woman’s college of its time, men were not allowed in dorm rooms. Hillary helped put an end to that.

She has always been the opposite of Bernie Sanders.

The biggest difference between her and so many others in politics today? One that was there from the beginning: a “willingness to participate in the drudgery of government rather than simply direct policy from Olympian heights," Bernstein explained. "She attended committee meetings, became involved in the minutiae (of finding a better system for the return of library books, for instance), and studied every aspect of the Wellesley curriculum in developing a successful plan to reduce the number of required courses.”

As a fellow student said of her at the time: “she was more interested in the process of achieving victory than in taking a philosophical position that could not lead anywhere.” Is there any better way of contrasting her with Bernie Sanders?

The death of Martin Luther King, Jr. was a test of leadership for Hillary.

One of her most significant moments as student body president at Wellesley came in April 1968—when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated:

Hearing the news, she stormed into a dorm room, shaking and shouting. She threw her book bag against the wall. One witness said she screamed, “I can’t stand it anymore! I can’t take it!”…King was perhaps the man she admired most in the country, if not the world. She had met him in 1962, shaken his hand, sat spellbound as he preached, twice. —Carl Bernstein, 'A Woman in Charge'
It was just two months after her election as president—and the town exploded. Students threatened to go on hunger strikes if Wellesley didn’t hire more black faculty and admit more black students. Other students planned on shutting down the school.

Instead, Hillary put herself forward as a mediator between students and the administration—in search of a solution. With her leadership, a solution was struck: the college promised to recruit more minority students and faculty. Wellesley even committed to pushing other employers in the region to create better living conditions and job opportunities for minorities.

Hillary has been studying how to make government more effective for the poor since she was an undergraduate.

What did she study as an undergrad? Her thesis was on the effectiveness of public programs. She went to the same kind of impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago that Obama would one day organize in—speaking to community leaders to see if Lyndon Johnson’s anti-poverty programs were on the right track. Her conclusion? They weren’t. The programs put too much on the shoulders of community members without providing enough federal resources to get the job done. As part of the project, she interviewed Saul Alinsky, the famed organizer—gaining his trust and even a job offer.

................so much more..................

http://www.armisticedesigns.com/blog/2016/4/21/the-quick-startup-guide-to-hillary

A Seattle man accused of threatening to cut out U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s tongue now faces felony charges.
King County prosecutors claim Jasper K. Bell made the threat because he was upset that McDermott, D-Seattle, was supporting Hilary Clinton for president. Currently jailed, Bell, 27, has been charged with intimidating a public servant and telephone harassment.

Bell had been fixated on McDermott for some time before the April 22 incident that saw him charged, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Susan Storey said in court paper. Bell is alleged to have made threatening calls to McDermott before arriving at his Seattle office that day.
“In one phone call he demanded the congressman’s home address and threatened to cut his tongue out,” Storey said in charging papers. “In another call he stated that the congressman would not be safe, even after he retires.”
...
Witnesses at McDermott’s downtown Seattle office told police Bell was yelling and spitting, and banging his fists against the office windows. He was arrested hours after that 1 p.m. incident.

McDermott canceled a public appearance due to the threats, Storey said, and had his staff take extra security precautions.
According to charging papers, McDermott told investigators he brought a shovel into his office “to use in self-defense if necessary.” The shovel was hidden behind several flags.
....
According to charging papers, Bell told police he was angry that a supporter of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had been arrested earlier in the day at McDermott’s office. McDermott has endorsed Hillary Clinton.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/Threatened-Rep-Jim-McDermott-armed-himself-7381914.php

Benchmark Politics
?@benchmarkpol
The state of "Bernie or Bust"

Just how badly is the Democratic Party divided?

According to the exit polls, half of Clinton's supporters in Indiana would not vote for Obama in a general election match up with John McCain. A third of Clinton voters said they would pick McCain over Obama, while 17 percent said they would not vote at all. Just 48 percent of Clinton supporters said they would back Obama in November.

Obama gets even less support from Clinton backers in North Carolina. There, only 45 percent of Clinton supporters said they would vote for Obama over McCain. Thirty-eight percent said they would vote for McCain while 12 percent said they would not vote.

Obama voters appear to be more willing to support Clinton in November. In Indiana, 59 percent of Obama backers said they'd vote for Clinton, and 70 percent of Obama backers in North Carolina said they'd support the New York Democrat.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/06/exit-polls-half-of-clintons-supporters-wont-back-obama/

In March, Gallup had 28% of Clinton supporters voting for McCain instead of Obama. The same poll had 19% of Obama supporters who said they would vote for McCain over Hillary. By the time the primaries were over, CNN had 35% of Clinton supporters nationally saying they wouldn’t support Obama.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/how-bad-is-poll-that-says-25-of-bernie-sanders-fans-wont-vote-for-hillary/

Connecticut primary voters didn’t let this morning’s cold rain keep them away from the polls.

Outside the Hartford Seminary, Geri Sullivan walked slowly beneath a large, dripping umbrella and talked about how tough she found the choice between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“My heart was with Sanders, but my head was with Hillary,” she said. “I’ve been really torn.”

Sullivan eventually landed in the Clinton column because, she said, in the last couple of weeks Sanders “got too negative and personal, writing the Republican ads in November, so I switched to Hillary. I thought he was above that.”

Pre-election polls show a tight race on the Democratic side in Connecticut, where both Sanders and Clinton have stumped in recent days,

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20160426/connecticut-primary-voters-not-deterred-by-cold-rain

.....In total, 29 different women and 509 men have served as secretaries of these cabinets over the course of American history.
.....
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=
As you might expect, things have gotten a little better in recent years. Eight of the 33 Cabinet members Barack Obama has appointed were women, or 24 percent. For George W. Bush it was six of 34, or 18 percent. For Bill Clinton it was five of 28, also 18 percent. But nobody has even approached 50 percent.

So if Hillary Clinton does actually bring gender equity to her Cabinet, it will be something positively revolutionary. And who knows, she might even let a woman lead Treasury or Defense. That’s more than a bit overdue.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/04/26/clintons-vow-to-bring-gender-equity-to-the-presidents-cabinet-is-radical/

Hillary Clinton holds 36-ppt lead over Donald Trump, 61% vs 25%, with 14% undecided, in Harvard Institute of Politics poll surveying 18-29 yr olds.

More than 60% surveyed want Democratic president in 2016 vs 33% for Republican vs a year ago, when figures were 55% Democrat preference vs 40% Republican

Poll conducted March 18-April 3 for 3,183 people in English and Spanish; margin of error +/- 2.4 ppts

Trump is playing a role like that of President George W. Bush did during President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, John Della Volpe, Harvard IOP’s polling director, told reporters today, according to Politico

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2016-04-25/clinton-beats-trump-for-millennials-in-harvard-poll