UNITED STATES:AS HER chances of becoming vice-president recede, some of Senator Hillary Clinton's supporters are pushing for the Democratic Party's new platform to state that the primary elections "exposed pervasive gender bias in the media" and to call on party leaders to take "immediate and public steps" to condemn future perceived instances of bias.
The push for the plank in the party's statement of principles reflects a lingering unhappiness over Mrs Clinton's treatment during the Democratic primary, and over what they say was an inadequate response from party leaders.
Some Clinton supporters have complained of jibes against the New York senator by TV talk show hosts, off-colour novelty items that surfaced during the campaign and incidents such as one where hecklers yelled "Iron my shirt!" at a Clinton rally.
"There were so many examples in the media of sexist comments where we never heard from the party leadership or Barack Obama," said Stacy Mason, executive director of a political action committee called WomenCount, which claims thousands of members. The group ran newspaper advertisements in the spring urging Mrs Clinton to stay in the contest.
"We're focused on why the Democratic leadership was so silent about it during the campaign," Ms Mason said. "It was their obligation to come to the defence of one of their own primary candidates, and they didn't. They stayed silent during the campaign, and that's not okay."
The platform is taking shape at a time when Mrs Clinton's prospects of becoming Mr Obama's running mate are slipping. Former aides to New York senator said she is tentatively scheduled to speak on the second night of the Democratic convention - Tuesday, August 26th - not the slot typically reserved for the vice-presidential nominee.
Also, the Obama campaign has not asked Mrs Clinton to furnish financial records or personal background material used to vet potential vice-presidential nominees, Clinton aides said.
Concluding that Mrs Clinton is out of the running, a group called Vote Both announced on Thursday that it was abandoning its effort to get her named to the number two spot. The organisation had been started by two former Clinton aides and had gathered tens of thousands of petition signatures.
If she is not destined to become vice-president, some of Mrs Clinton's supporters want at least to see parts of her political agenda enshrined in the party platform.
That includes the senator's signature proposal for universal healthcare, a stance that sets up a conflict with the Obama campaign. Where Mrs Clinton would require people to carry health insurance, Mr Obama's healthcare proposal would mandate coverage only for children - one of the few policy differences between the two that emerged in the course of the Democratic primary.
Clinton supporters who are trying to influence the platform-writing process are working independently of the New York senator and her staff. Heather Higginbottom, an Obama policy aide and a member of the drafting committee, said that Clinton's official representatives helping to shape the platform have asked neither for a healthcare mandate nor gender-bias language.
"We have talked about healthcare, about sharing the goal of universal coverage. But not about a mandate," Ms Higginbottom said.
- (LA Times-Washington Post service)