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Philadelphia • Sen. Bernie Sanders will stroll onto the stage and speak at the Democratic National Convention here Monday, but it won't be to claim the party's presidential nomination as his supporters had hoped.
Instead, Sanders' remarks will be aimed at unifying the disparate wings of the Democratic Party and bring his biggest fans into the must-elect Hillary Clinton camp. But it won't be easy.
"I'd personally like him to stick with what he's been going for this entire campaign," says Taylor Cowan, a 23-year-old Sanders delegate from Farmington involved in politics for the first time in his life. "I wouldn't call myself a 'Bernie or Bust' guy, but I'd rather not have Hillary."
Sanders has endorsed Clinton to the dismay of a whole new generation of political newbies who jumped on Team Sanders this cycle. With the convention centered on Clinton's Thursday night acceptance of the nomination, the first by a woman from a major party, Monday's speech by Sanders is a big moment for his followers.
Cowan says he wouldn't be upset if Sanders urges his folks to come into the Clinton fold, but the Utahn, who voted in his first caucus this year, isn't sure he'll be listening.
"You'll have to ask me in November," he said.
Clinton has an edge with young voters compared to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, though there's plenty in that demographic who aren't on board.
An Associated Press/University of Chicago poll earlier this month showed that of 18- to 30-year-olds, Clinton beats Trump 38 to 17 percent. But that leaves some 45 percent of those polled undecided or unwilling to vote for either.
Several pro-Sanders rallies are planned in Philadelphia this week, including one called the "Socialist Convergence." That doesn't count a rally that Sanders' campaign had attempted to hold for some 40,000 supporters during the convention. He didn't get a permit.
Instead, Sanders will get the stage Monday to speak.
Oscar Mata, a 22-year-old Utah delegate, was on the fence between Sanders and Clinton, though he came around for the Vermont senator in the Utah caucuses. Mata says he wants to hear Sanders call for unity and encourage the young voters who came out for him to stay engaged.
"I support Sanders. I support his ideas," Mata says. "But I am a Democrat first and I absolutely believe we need to come together as a party to stop Donald Trump. I don't think even if Sen. Sanders is the nominee, it's going to be one person that's gonna stop Donald Trump. It's going to take our entire party working together for our ideas and our goals that Americans have for this country."
Of Utah's 37 delegates, 29 are Sanders supporters, including two superdelegates.
Bob Aagard, who is also a Sanders delegate, says, for him, it's clear what Sanders needs to say.
"Bernie needs to make the case to not only his 1,900 delegates but to his millions of supporters that this election is bigger than him," Aagard says. "He also needs to talk about what will happen to his proposals under a Donald Trump presidency."
Republicans had a similar fight at their national convention last week with Sen. Ted Cruz refusing to endorse Trump, and pro-Trump delegates booing him off stage.
Democrats are mindful of how that played to potential voters across America and are attempting to avoid a repeat with their convention.
"He should bring all supporters of his together, to begin the healing, so his followers will understand that voting for Hillary will give them more of what Bernie stood for, rather than what Donald Trump stands for," says Neil Hansen, a former state representative from Ogden who is a Sanders delegate.
On the Clinton side, delegate Josie Valdez says she hopes for a "Kumbaya" moment.
"Sanders should throw his full support behind Hillary Clinton and he should encourage his supporters to fully back her also," Valdez says. "He should give a fiery, impassioned speech on Monday night, urging everyone in the room to back our Democratic nominee and do everything possible to defeat Trump."