The 5-Minute Fix: Democratic convention 101

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8 years ago

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By Amber Phillips

Last week, Republicans were in the national spotlight. This week, it's Democrats' turn. As their party convention begins Monday, let's run down everything you need to know about it:

When/where: Philadelphia, Monday through Thursday. Also our coverage on The Fix, which is basically like being there for only the really important or fun moments.

Headliners to know about: Some big ones lined up.
Monday: Michelle Obama
Tuesday: Bill Clinton
Wednesday: Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, President Obama and Vice President Biden
Thursday: Chelsea Clinton will speak before her mother makes history by becoming the first woman to accept a major-party nomination.

Purpose: To agree to a party platform and nominate Hillary Clinton as their choice for president and Kaine, a senator from Virginia, as their choice for vice president. But since we've known for the past month Clinton has had enough delegates to win the nomination, this part is mostly ceremonial.

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Secondary purpose: To project a drama-free, super-unified, all-inclusive Democratic Party as a way to counter the drama and divisiveness that sometimes threatened to derail the Republican convention.

How's that going so far? Not great. The convention hadn't even officially started when the head of the Democratic Party, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was forced to resign over leaked emails that purport to show her and her staff trying to undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the primary. (Read the most damaging ones here.)

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (REUTERS/Scott Audette)

The leaked emails were embarrassing for Wasserman Schultz, because the the Democratic National Committee she chaired is supposed to be neutral during the primaries.

Given everything we've learned, "Sanders has every right to feel aggrieved," wrote The Washington Post's Dan Balz, who goes into much more detail about the whole drama than I have room to here.

Sanders supporters are really aggrieved. Wasserman Schultz addressed her state's delegation on Monday morning and got booed by protesters holding signs that read "EMAILS." A Monday morning protest outside Philadelphia's City Hall drew hundreds of "Bernie or Bust" supporters.

Bernie Sanders supporters march in downtown Philadelphia on Monday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Apparently a few Sanders supporters cheered a van sponsored by conservative website InfoWars that read "Hillary for Jail":

On Monday afternoon, Sanders himself addressed supporters -- "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine!" -- and got booed.

Whatever tension is still present between the establishment and liberal wing of the primary, it seems like the email drama has exacerbated it-- so much so that it threatens to steal the show and undermine Democrats' message of unity. As Fix Boss Chris Cillizza put it: "Bernie Sanders started a political revolution. Now he can't stop it."

But there are no signs all this drama will seriously hurt Clinton's chances in November: The Fix's Philip Bump reminds us all of a Pew Research survey that finds 90 percent of unwavering Sanders supporters plan to vote for Clinton.

Now that we've got the basics down, let's do some rapid-fire Q&As to break down how the rest of this week will work.

When will they actually nominate Clinton?: Likely on Tuesday evening, which is when each state's group of delegates will announce how they're voting.

Are we expecting any surprises then? Nope. A majority will be voting for Clinton.

Let me ask a different way. Does Bernie Sanders have a remote chance to win the nomination? Nope. Clinton won the nomination with more than enough delegates to buffer her, and Sanders supporters really don't have any procedural rules to try to stop her.

...BUT his supporters can make a lot of trouble for the Clinton camp. There's a very small, very unlikely to succeed attempt to try to remove Kaine from the ticket and pick someone more tenable to liberals. (Kaine has more moderate views on abortion, trade and banking.)

We should also be ready for some general floor ruckus by Sanders supporters, whether that's forcing each state to count and recount its delegates to gum up the process or just general shouting and yelling.

Any celebrities speaking? Quite a few, actually.

Any drinking games I can play? We at The Fix debated a few -- anytime someone mentions Clinton is a grandmother, or anytime someone brings up the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, or anytime someone mentions Donald Trump's apparent fondness for Vladimir Putin, for example. But I've settled on this one from my colleague Bump: Anytime someone says "America is already great" -- a play, of course, on Trump's favorite line.

Have fun, don't get too drunk, and stay with The Fix for all your convention coverage.

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