Anger over WikiLeaks’ release of Democratic Party emails may have subsided, but insiders are said to be steeling themselves for new revelations.

Politico on Thursday reported that senior staffers at the Democratic National Committee “believe they’re on the verge of being fired” – even before any new emails are made public.

Messages leaked before the party’s convention in Philadelphia suggested DNC staff were conspiring to support Hillary Clinton and plotting to undermine her rival for the party’s nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

But some Democrats at the convention say the party is managing the controversy admirably, and reaction to any new emails will be muted.

“This is a polarizing election. We’re so divided. It won’t matter what surprise comes out, the election will be about which side has the better ground game,” said Kevan Yenerall, a political science professor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and a Sanders delegate from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

Yenerall said he expects the Clinton campaign will have an edge in its get-out-the-vote organization.

Yenerall said he already had a dim view of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, even before she resigned last weekend amid a furry over leaked emails. Yennerall said he dislikes Wasserman Schultz because she has taken campaign money from the payday loan industry.

Still, despite evidence that some in the party plotted against Sanders, Yenerall said he doesn’t blame the Democratic National Committee for Sanders’ failure to win the nomination.

“He lost because (Clinton) did better with older voters, African-Americans and stalwart Democrats,” he said.

Yenerall said Democrats in western Pennsylvania are uniting, and they were talking about building bridges even before the convention started. He’s been contacted by the Clinton campaign five times to get his buy-in, he added.

Dissent “has been greatly over-stated,” he said. “Folks are united.”

Fractures remain

Well, maybe they’re not united everywhere.

Some delegates insist that Democrats will leave their convention on the same page, but certain divisions cannot be ignored. Younger Sanders supporters, for example, are struggling to recognize Clinton as their standard bearer, said Randolph Shannon, a Sanders delegate from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

Shannon noted many of Sanders younger followers don’t think the system works. They are unemployed or underemployed, and they’re drowning in debt.

“There is deep disillusionment with Hillary Clinton as a representative of that system,” he said.

Clinton’s hawkish reputation doesn’t help, as illustrated by the chorus of “No more war” chants that broke out in the middle of Leon Panetta’s Wednesday night speech.

Panetta, a former defense secretary and head of the CIA, finished his speech, but the chants were easily discernible on television broadcasts.

The moment was poignant for progressives, said Shannon, who noted it was the first time this week that anti-war sentiments were cast in the limelight.

Still, Shannon said he looks forward to helping Clinton and down-ticket Democrats win this fall.

The Sanders or Bust crowd wants “instant results,” he said. “A revolution takes a lifetime.”

Speech of the Week

On Thursday morning, Eric Graff said he was eagerly anticipating Hillary Clinton’s speech accepting the party’s nomination to return to the White House as the country’s first female president.

But, after several days of speeches, Graff said the best of the lot remained Monday night’s comments by First Lady Michelle Obama.

They were better even than speeches by the party’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine, current Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton or even Michelle Obama’s husband, President Barack Obama.

“The convention really turned with Michelle Obama’s speech,” said Graff, a Sanders delegate from the 11th Congressional District.

Since then, he said, the mood at the convention has steadily improved.

It’s hard to say what it will mean after the convention.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has such strong appeal in much of rural Pennsylvania, Graff said, and his success will depend on whether voter turnout in Democrats’ urban strongholds overshadows the rest of the state.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” he said.

John Finnerty covers the Pennsylvania Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jfinnerty@cnhi.com or @cnhipa on Twitter.