Sen. Bernie Sanders has yet to formally end his campaign for president. | AP Photo Clinton allies try to entice Sanders with prime-time convention slot The public push for Sanders to wrap up his campaign came after the Vermont senator dodged an opportunity to concede.

Hillary Clinton allies are beginning to put public pressure on Bernie Sanders to end his bid before the convention, suggesting the prospect of a prime time convention speech as an incentive.

“If I were advising Sen. Sanders,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a longtime Clinton ally, said in an interview, “I would say, you’ve done so fabulously, but there’s one thing left you need to do and that’s make a speech in prime time at the convention. You only do that if you’re not contesting the nomination.”


If Sanders waits to hold a roll call in Philadelphia on the Wednesday of the convention, the only speaking slots left would likely go to President Obama and the party’s nominee. But if he conceded beforehand, Rendell said, Sanders would be in a position to demand a prime time slot on the stage at the Wells Fargo Center. A Clinton campaign spokesman would not discuss the internal convention negotiations underway with the Sanders campaign.

But the public push from Clinton allies for Sanders to wrap up his campaign came after the Vermont Senator on Thursday night dodged an opportunity to concede to Clinton. During a 23-minute livestreamed address, Sanders, speaking to supporters from Burlington, said that “defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal.” Network television stations cut away from Sanders as it became clear no concession was planned. “We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become,” he said. “And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia.”

When it came to Clinton, whom Sanders met with Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., he told some 200,000 supporters tuning in via livestream: "It is no secret that Secretary Clinton and I have strong disagreements on some very important issues. It is also true that our views are quite close on others.”

Clinton officials and surrogates have come to expect nothing short of a stubborn and persistent challenge from Sanders over the course of a contentious campaign. But patience is wearing thin among Clinton allies for a vanquished rival who seems to be coming around to his party’s nominee at the speed of a tanker changing course, in an election when time is a scarce resource.

“The lack of processing, publicly, the fact that he has actually not won, is frustrating,” said one Clinton surrogate with close ties to the campaign. “Framing his desires as a list of demands when his margin of loss was actually significantly larger than he’s acting, is frustrating."

Other Clinton allies described Sanders’ much-hyped speech as unsurprising, but “lame” nonetheless.

"Bernie talks the language of collective action — but only if he is the center of that action," said the political director of a major labor union that endorsed Clinton. "He doesn't understand the role of a party, and uniting behind a party's nominee."

The address was viewed as an opportunity for Sanders to assure his supporters that he’s still fighting for the principles that energized his supporters, even as he winds down from actively campaigning. But some Clinton loyalists told POLITICO they resented his address because they believe the only reason for Sanders to carry on at this point is his unspoken hope that Clinton is somehow disqualified between now and the July 25 convention.

Democratic strategist and former Obama aide Ben LaBolt noted, “the clock is ticking for him to not only tell his supporters to defeat Donald Trump, but to get them excited about the ticket. He said he was a Democrat this cycle, that would imply that he would enthusiastically support the ticket.”

Rendell, however, said he’s willing to cut Sanders just a little more slack -- a mindset shared by campaign officials. “I know a lot of Hillary supporters are piqued he didn’t concede,” he said. “It's Bernie being Bernie. There's nothing to be upset about. He marches to a different drum.”

“If he takes a week or two, it’s not important,” Rendell added. “What’s important is he gets the message out that he’s for Hillary before the convention. All the ship has to do is make land by July 25.” Campaign officials also remained confident that after the Tuesday night meeting, the two candidates are on a slow path to party unification.

Meanwhile, the process of unification is underway without Sanders on board. On Friday, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive standard bearer, rallied the troops at Clinton’s campaign headquarters with a "rah rah" speech to staffers.

But from the outside, there is less certainty of what Sanders' endgame strategy looks like.

“It’s hard to read,” said Democratic strategist David Axelrod, also a former top adviser to President Obama, of his reaction to Sanders’ speech Thursday night. “You don’t just charge forward at 100 miles an hour and come to a screeching halt, extend your hand and say, ‘Great game.’”

Sander is right to continue to promote the ideals that animated his race, Axelrod said. But “if, as he says, his goal is to defeat Trump, persistent, if implied, lamentations about the shortcomings of the only person now in a position to achieve that goal are not helpful.”

“At some point -- maybe in Philly, maybe before -- he has to land this plane,” Axelrod said. “And he needs to make the descent more gentle to avoid a crash landing.”