Former Clinton staffer pushes for Democratic unity ticket
As Barack Obama emerges as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, speculation has begun swirling about the possibility of a unity ticket featuring both Obama and Clinton. A 22-year-old former Clinton staffer, Adam Parkhomenko is promoting just that at his website, voteboth.com.
Parkhomenko was interviewed by CNN's John Roberts, who expressed skepticism about the idea, asking, "Could they really come together -- and after so much bitterness, would it really be a 'dream team'?"
"I think it's the way to win in November," Parkhomenko replied. "If you listen to the two clips that you just played, you know, they already sound like they're running together. They're united. ... I think this is the way to win."
Parkhomenko first appeared in the news in 2002 as a 17-year-old "political junkie" with a collection of 5000 autographs. In 2003, he launched VoteHillary.org to promote a Clinton presidential candidacy, and in 2004 he tried to start a "draft Hillary" movement, which left to his hiring by Clinton's PAC. He resigned from the Clinton campaign in March and registered his VoteBoth organization with the FEC shortly thereafter.
"Does it matter to you who leads the ticket?" Roberts asked.
"It's above my head who will be chosen as the nominee," Parkhomenko stated. "Once we have a nominee, we think that we need to have the other on the ticket so that we can reach out to the other supporters. ... We think this is the best way to unite the party."
Roberts pointed out that Nancy Pelosi has said she doesn't think an Obama-Clinton ticket would be a good idea, and that Ted Kennedy has implied the same.
However, Parkhomenko dismissed the opinions of these party leaders. "It's above all of us," he asserted, noting that "thirty-plus million people have voted in the primary, more than 400 million dollars now that both campaigns have put in."
"Do you really think there can be peace, harmony, and union here in the Democratic Party?" Roberts asked again.
"I think the differences between us and the Republicans [sic] are small," Parkhomenko answered. "If you have one of them on the ticket with the other, I think that'll be enough to send both of them to the White House."
This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast May 12, 2008.
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