The Democrats are in deep trouble in the upcoming primaries. It is a repeat of 2016 but with a twist.
This time Bernie’s voters are threatening to sit out the general election if Bernie is screwed by the DNC again.
That happened in 2016 but by a smaller margin. If a significant number voters stay home, President Trump will win in a walk.
There are a couple of factors that will hurt the Sanders team in the primaries and caucuses. The most important factor are the super delegates. It’s a device the establishment uses to select their choice for the nominee.
There are 771 of them and a total of 4750 delegates. Super delegates get to make their own selection.They delivered the nominations of Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Bernie could win the most delegates in the primaries and the caucuses but lose the nomination because off the super delegates.
That would anger Bernie’s rabid supporters. Hillary and the DNC bought him off in 2016 but something tells me he won’t sell out to Biden.
If he sits out the general election, so will his supporters. Or at least enough to swing a state or two.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Bernie Sanders supporters are warning that a lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden could bring about the same result that nominating another establishment Democrat did four years ago: electing Donald Trump.
Sanders backers fret the socialist Vermont senator, 78, is being consistently ignored and underestimated by Beltway insiders and a Washington-based press corps — the same bunch, in their view, who failed to predict Trump’s 2016 White House win and were sure Hillary Clinton, who beat Sanders for the Democratic nomination, would easily prevail.
They’re particularly steamed Sanders, a socialist who has been in Congress since 1991, isn’t getting his due though he’s proven to have staying power in public opinion and fundraising, even after suffering a heart attack last October. As of last week, he leads a tight four-horse race in Iowa ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3, raising a record figure of $34.5 million in the final financial quarter of 2019 for a total of $96 million.
Nominating a career center-left candidate such as Biden, the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, would dampen enthusiasm by the liberal populist grassroots, Sanders backers contend.