Bernie Sanders will be able to claim more sway over the convention in July after the Democratic National Committee partially gave in to his demand for more control over the committee that writes the party's platform.
While DNC rules allow the chair to pick all 15 members of the national convention drafting committee, the organization struck a deal with the two campaigns so that Hillary Clinton will pick six members, Sanders will pick five, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will appoint four, party officials confirmed
It's short of what Sanders lobbied for — he wrote to Wasserman Schultz suggesting that each campaign pick seven members and that the final member be picked jointly by both campaigns — it's still progress for Sanders, who has had an especially rocky relationship with Wasserman Schultz.
Awfully nice of Debbie Wasserman Schultz to negotiate with Sanders while he is actively working to get her primaried out of the House.
Don'tcha think?
Here are Sanders' picks:
Arab-American Institute President James Zogby; Cornel West; Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison; Deborah Parker, an activist on Native American rights; and Bill McKibben, an activist on environmental issues.
Got a couple of bomb throwers in there.
I am not at all convinced that Cornel West, a man who has been attacking President Obama virtually since he took office, is going to be much for negotiations.
Here are Hillary's picks:
Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, former State Department official Wendy Sherman, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, former White House Energy and Climate Change Policy director Carol Browner, Ohio state Rep. Alicia Reece, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union's Paul Booth.
And look Hillary picks a bunch of reasonable folks well versed in negotiating techniques, folks who have been through this kind of thing many times before.
And of course that does not include the four that Schultz will appoint, which I imagine will not be terribly interested in taking Sanders' side on too many issues.
I swear it looks more and more like this convention is going to be a damn free for all.
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