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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

WI: Clinton delegate stands by decision to vote for McCain

12:33 PM

Debbie Bartoshevich, a Wisconsin delegate for Hillary Clinton, is promising to be "vocal" if she is stripped of her delegate status for next month's national convention in Denver.

Bartoshevich made the comments during her appearance on the Wisconsin TV show "Up Front with Mike Gousha." On the show she talks about her decision (which she stands by), the reaction to it, why she's "disenfranchised" and what happens next.

In a recent interview with WisPolitics.com, she acknowledged it was reasonable for the party to expect delegates to support its nominee for president, but she took issue with the nominating process and said it should be reviewed because there are others like her who are not behind Obama.

"If I go to this great convention, Barack Obama has the opportunity to convince me that he should be the nominee. That's why I want to go, to have the opportunity to see him, to hear him," she said. "If he can't convince me in this kind of platform, how's he going to convince millions of Americans to support him?"

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin challenged Bartoshevich's credentials after she announced she would vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama in the November election (she says she was approached by the McCain campaign "approximately three minutes" after Clinton's concession speech and "never" received any correspondence from the Obama camp). The news, revealed in a newspaper article, was touted by the McCain campaign during the state Democratic convention in June, just as Dems looked to unify after an extended primary fight.

Bartoshevich said she was disappointed by the way the state party has handled the situation, saying she found out about the challenge to her status through media reports.

"The Wisconsin Democrat Party still hasn't even called me to even check on the validity of the [Milwaukee] Journal Sentinel article," she said.

Watch video of the extended interview with Bartoshevich.

Listen to an audio clip from the show

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