Clinton fans, I get your elation over getting to kick us while we're down a little more.

[moriah]

142. I'm late to the party here, and I don't know if you'll get to this one.

I, for one, was expecting something extremely different today, back in January. I was expecting to be telling my fellow Hillary supporters that it was a good try, but now we had to support Bernie. Like we did Obama in 2008. That I knew what my candidate would do and how she would act at the Convention because she'd done it before.

But as a Hillary supporter, I can't tell you that. Even if I embraced Obama (which I did far more because I liked him than necessarily disliked McCain -- I was working my ass off phonebanking for Obama but compared to other R alternatives, as long as they kept him alive so Palin never became President I figured the alternative could be far worse... which contributed to McCain's loss, too many Rs felt he was too liberal, yay), I still can't tell you to embrace Hillary.

And I really didn't like the voter turnout implications of announcing supers clinching a nomination before the candidate gets a pledged delegate victory, even though she only needs 214 pledged delegates today and could get to the PD majority even losing California 70/30 as long as she ties in New Jersey, regardless of any of the delegates from the other four states. Obama had a PD majority earlier (May 20, thanks to Oregon, regardless of how Michigan or Florida delegates would be seated), and that's when I said I was taking my break to gear up for the General but would be supporting our Nominee. Sure, mathematically it's nearly impossible for her to not get a PD majority today, but she didn't have it yet.

I honestly don't think the Hillary campaign would have wanted this, as it has turnout implications for Hillary supporters almost more than Bernie supporters (who are obviously angry and hopefully will go to the polls no matter what if they haven't already voted early, but anger is a better motive than complacency). I think her immediate Tweet about there still being primaries was the appropriate response.

Tomorrow or tonight, I hope we can have one or two honestly "love and kindness" threads saying good things about each candidate. Bernie has, if not won the top spot on the Democratic ticket, proven that it's likely Hillary will be the last Nominee who doesn't speak more clearly for the louder, more left voices in the Party. In 8 years, the electorate will be different. It might even be in four. That's a victory just as much as Hillary's "millions of holes in the glass ceiling" were in 2008.

And I hope that the people who supported Bernie's vision keep working to make the things he stood for reality, even if they have to do the work under a Clinton administration. His vision shouldn't stop just because his campaign may.

All I ask is that when you go to the voting booth in November to vote for downticket candidates, ask yourself what you can vote within your conscience at the top of the ticket one more time before you choose a third party or leave it blank. Things may change a lot by then, I don't know. I can't tell you what your conscience should say, and either way you won't lose your "real true whatever" status.

And I really can't persuade you. I was all prepared to sway people over to unity with Bernie, but...

Just forgive even me, please, for being happy my candidate, who I didn't expect would win, will most likely be the first female nominee of a major party ticket. I don't want my happiness to come at your expense, and I would have been thrilled to nominate the first Jewish nominee if that's how the voting had went.

I'm really sorry that the AP couldn't sit on this just one more bloody day.