The Massachusetts Vote: Hillary delegates push Obama supporters into the background

I was down with the Massachusetts delegation when they officially announced their votes to the convention. State senate president Therese Murray got to do the state-bragging honors, and announced the 52 Clinton votes; Gov Patrick announced the 65 Obama votes. Murray included in her intro shout-outs to the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots -- not the Bruins -- which drew good-natured boos from the New York delegates seated directly below Massachusetts. AG Martha Coakley stood to Murray's right. Murray and the Hillary diehards came down first to claim their spaces around the podium: former state senator Joan Menard, state rep Lida Harkins, sheriff Andrea Cabral, state senator Marc Pacheco, Deb Goldberg. They let Patrick through, but other Obama supporters who wanted to be part of it had to stand in the background, including state party chair John Walsh. Aside from Patrick, almost all the black faces of the delegation were conspicuously absent, not just from the podium but from the hall at the historic moment.

The Clinton delegates now seem happy: even Goldberg, who has been as Hillarific as anyone, pointed proudly to her "Clinton delegates for Obama" pin. I'm not so sure all the Obama delegates in the Massachusetts group are feeling quite so unified, however.