At this point I have only very general information about Clinton delegate efforts to assemble a nominating petition that could be used to put Senator Clinton's name in nomination in Denver this August. The reason I lack concrete information has everything to do with the climate being created by the current DNC leadership and nothing at all to do with the courage or stamina of the Clinton delegates. The DNC has done everything they can to chill efforts by delegates to produce a nominating petition on behalf of Senator Clinton. This particularly disturbs me because the delegates involved in any such effort would simply be following the DNC's own rules as put forth in the Call to the Convention. When an institution discourages its own most central members from using the institution's own procedures, something has gone terribly wrong. Top DNC officials signal that delegates who do not go along with the new script, rather than the official rules, will suffer retaliation. We need to make it clear that no authentically democratic Democratic Party would treat its own delegates this way. By doing so, I hope we can fortify the delegates who choose to exercise their right to participate in producing a nominating petition. This issue goes beyond the question of whether Senator Clinton decides, using her own best judgment, whether to sign such a petition. It goes to the heart of the crisis that has befallen the Democratic Party, a crisis of conscience. The official national leadership, the DNC, shows no signs of limiting their efforts to mislead the American public about the current state of the nomination process. That same leadership wants to ignore, diminish, or punish any Democrat who resists these efforts. The delegates, Democrats who worked hard to enjoy the privilege of representing the voters of their respective states at the Democratic National Convention, deserve better. If the DNC will not honor them, then it is up to us, rank and file Democrats, to do so. In that spirit, let me say to any Clinton delegate who exercises his or her right to sign a nominating petition: you are the truest Democrats of all. You represent not only those who cast ballots on behalf of Senator Clinton. You evidence the bravery and the integrity that characterize American democracy at its best.