By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger
LEXINGTON - The students at Washington and Lee University are betting that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee despite a loss in South Carolina and a likely loss in Virginia.
Ironically, Clinton’s nomination came despite louder cheers at times from students who favored presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom the convention picked to win Saturday’s South Carolina primary plus Virginia’s Feb 12 Democratic primary.
The W&L Mock Convention picked former Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. of Memphis, chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, as Clinton’s running mate for vice president.
The move surprised even convention organizers. Ford, a rising star in the Democratic Party, was thrilled with the choice and told a local radio station that he “has got to ask his fiancée if that’s OK.” He nosed out U.S. Sen. Jim Webb and Obama in the voice votes for vice president.
Webb declined to endorse either Clinton or Obama and told the convention that the Bush administration still lacks an exit strategy to leave Iraq.
He said Republicans are talking about having U.S. troops there for 50 years.
“When you are dropping off your grandchildren at Washington & Lee, the Republican Party still wants to be in Iraq,” Webb said.
The W&L convention gave 45 Virginia delegates to Clinton, compared with 55 for Obama. John Edwards won one Virginia delegate.
