Clinton camp to create “whip team” for Dem convention

Since the so-called “PUMA”‘s have made it clear that they won’t go away quietly, Team Clinton has had to assemble a “whip” team in an effort to make sure the PUMA’s don’t embarass themselves … and La Clinton … during the DNC:

In an unusual move, Hillary Clinton’s staff is creating a 40-member “whip team” at the Denver Democratic convention to ensure that her supporters don’t engage in embarrassing anti-Obama demonstrations during the floor vote on her nomination, according to people familiar with the planning.

The team, which is being organized by longtime Clinton staffer Craig Smith, is working in conjunction with Obama’s floor organizers to help foster the image of a unified front during a roll-call process Clinton herself has described as an emotional “catharsis” for her disappointed supporters.

“If people get down there on the floor and want to start blowing kazoos and making a scene we want to make sure we’ve got people who stand in front of them with Obama signs,” said a person involved in the planning.

“Is it typical for a losing candidate to have their own whip team? No. But it’s also not usual for a losing candidate to get 18 million votes either,” said the person.

[…]

“We have been and are working closely with the Obama campaign to make sure we have an exciting and unified convention,” Strand said. “Our delegate whips, along with the Obama delegate whips, are a part of a team that will be on the floor of the convention to make sure delegates have everything they need, whether that’s answering questions or passing out signs during Hillary’s speech. The whips are a traditional part of every convention’s floor operations.”

Er, correction: they’ll be out on the floor giving those Clinton delegates everything they (the “whips”) think they need.   And if those delegates don’t cooperate, then perhaps they’ll be carted off to the ‘holding cell’?