By John E. Mulligan
Journal White House bureau

DENVER -- The last crackle of static over the disaffection of Hillary Clinton backers may not sputter out until the last delegate leaves Barack Obama's convention on Friday.

But Frank Montanaro, R.I.'s AFL-CIO chief and a veteran Democratic delegate, thinks a little perspective is in order.

Montanaro was in Madison Square Garden 28 years ago for the mother of all split conventions -- and he says the family feud in Denver is nothing.

The jockeying over the terms of Clinton's concession to Obama is "not even close" to the bitter rift in 1980 between Jimmy Carter and the Bay State's Ted Kennedy.

Mind you, Montanaro is a hard-core supporter of Clinton, and, he said today, he still wishes she were the Democratic nominee after her speech last night.

"Of course I do," he said, "that's how this works. But I can support Barack Obama very easily."

He thinks most Clinton delegates from Rhode Island and around the country feel the same way. "I think everybody understands what the name of the game is. The last primary is over, and you couldn't have stated that any more clearly then Hillary did in her speech. "

Montenaro declared his candidate's speech "magnificent" and said he's ready to go to work on the defeat of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.