Clinton maintains Valley support despite dropping out of race

Texas Democrats continue to support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's nomination, more than two months after she dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her opponent.

And while Barack Obama stands a mere formality away from becoming the party's official nominee, some delegates to this month's Democratic National Convention are still debating placing their votes in the former first lady's camp.

In e-mail lists, petitions and fundraising efforts, these ardent holdouts have said Texas - and especially the Rio Grande Valley - will always remain Clinton country.

"There's a big discussion going on," said state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, a Clinton delegate who made headlines earlier this year when he appeared at an Obama rally at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

"These are very committed delegates who worked for the candidate, and some of them are very entrenched."

Clinton, who volunteered in this region during her youth and visited frequently both during and after her husband's two terms in the White House, is immensely popular here, winning over 70 percent of the vote in Hidalgo County in the March primary.

And while presidential hopefuls who drop out of the race traditionally release their pledged delegates to vote for the party's presumptive nominee at the convention, she has not yet indicated that such an announcement is imminent.

On Thursday, the Obama campaign released a statement saying that both his and Clinton's name would be formally placed into nomination.

The unusual move is being seen as a symbolic gesture and an attempt to mend rifts opened by their abnormally contentious primary race.

Even if all of Clinton's pledged delegates voted her way during the convention's roll call, Obama would still clinch the nomination by an estimated margin of nearly 400 votes, according to projections by The Associated Press.

"I am convinced that honoring Sen. Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion," Obama said in a written statement.

The announcement could speak volumes to the Valley's remaining Clinton holdouts.

"We're not naïve," said Vince Casillas, Obama's national coordinator for Spanish media. "We knew going into this election it was going to be a courting season for us to reach Hispanics."

Despite an eleventh-hour surge in local polls, Obama failed to win over local voters.

Clinton raised more than $1 million from Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr counties, while Obama had only collected $121,000 locally as of June 30 - just over $12,000 more than presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

The remaining gap has prompted skeptics to fear that socially conservative Valley voters could jump ship in favor of McCain, an Arizona senator whose strong support of immigration reform and connection to the border may endear him even further to voters not willing to support Obama.

But Casillas challenges that notion.

"After the primaries everyone was saying Barack has a Latino problem," he said. "But the polls say differently and have steadily shown he is gaining ground."

A recent Gallup Poll showed Hispanic voters nationwide supported Obama over McCain 62 percent to 29 percent.

Efforts to court Hispanic voters with Spanish-language ad drives and Clinton appearances at campaign events have started to show results.

State Rep. Peña believes that even if some delegates cast their votes for Clinton at the convention - which runs Aug. 25-28 - all will rally behind the party's nominee going into the general election.

"People worked hard during the primary supporting their candidate," he said. "For them, it's a matter of closure and finishing an exhaustive process.

"But the delegates in the Valley, I would describe them first as Democrats."