A Cloud Appears on the Horizon for Democrats

A small cloud appears on the horizon, threatening the sunny outlook of Democrats.

Some at Hannibal Days acknowledge the cloud, but consider it small, far off and not much of a threat. Some don't acknowledge it at all. One expresses great concern about the cloud, worrying that it might move closer, grow larger and overshadow the bright promise of November 2008.

The cloud is the unresolved Democratic presidential primary. New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama are locked in a tight race that has become heated; increasingly so. Most Democrats I talked with at Hannibal Days dismiss suggestions that emotions from the close contest could divide the party and hurt its chances to regain the White House with the possibility that a fallout could filtered down the ballot, adversely affecting all the races in Missouri. A few admit that the presidential primary contest is making them nervous and wonder whether the party will be able to unite behind the eventual winner.

The one person who publicly expresses that worry is Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. Cleaver is so worried about the possibility of a politically fatal split that he has written Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, suggesting that a group of prominent Democrats be formed, in part, to help tone down the increasingly strident rhetoric of the Clinton-Obama race. Cleaver, who supports Clinton, sees this year as a golden opportunity for Democrats to once again seize control of Washington, if in-fighting doesn't undermine those efforts.

Others see just a small cloud, something to observe, nothing right now to worry about. Senator Claire McCaskill, who supports Obama, says Democrats will come together behind whoever wins. She expresses the thought of many at Hannibal Days, that Democrats are more interested  in getting Republicans out of the White House than they are in settling inter-party political scores.McCaskill reasons that Clinton and Obama stand united in their core principles and that will win out once one of the two becomes the party's nominee.

Still, there remains a cloud on the horizon. Just how much of the sun it might block out remains to be seen.

- Brent Martin