Valley's delegate votes seemingly undecided

DENVER - Rep. Aaron Peña was getting ready to sit down and decide who to cast his final vote for to nominate the Democratic presidential candidate over a hamburger and coke.

"We were waiting for a signal from Hillary on what we should do," the state representative from Edinburg said. "I think at this point, it is clearly symbolism of appreciate of her historic candidacy. (But) most democrats had better get behind the Democratic nominee or else we are gong to continune going down the path we have been going."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton officially released all of the delegates she picked up through the presidential primaries, allowing them to cast their vote for whomever they chose to at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is the all-but-named official candidate for the Democratic presidential ticket and to become the first minority to led the party in the race.

Obama announced that Clinton's name would be included in the roll call - allowing her former delegates to still vote for her.

Peña said Clinton, herself, said she voted for Obama.

"When Hilliary Clinton spoke, it appeased the vast majority of (Clinton) delegates," he said. "In essence, she was giving her blessing and her permition this morning. Most people, even though they may not entirely agree with Obama's positions on things or affections for him, they realized there is a big difference between his and John McCain's positions."

Peña said he had not spoken to the Valley's other 14 delegates as of late Wednesday afternoon, but said he was uncertain who many of them would cast their official votes behind.

"May people (from the Valley) still think she is going to be the nominee," he said. "We've discussed how it is our job to pull people forward ... some of the uphill climb that we are going to have to (face to) get some of our citizens to come along."

Peña said there as been a slow evolution among Clinton's delegates nationwide since the convention started Monday.

"The sense from the clear majority of people is that they want to get on about winning and winning means finding unity and putting our differences aside," he said. "Most people, I believe, except for a few die hards, will be voting for Obama."