No matter how you measure it, Bernie Sanders isn’t winning the Democratic primary

[Iamaartist]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/11/no-matter-how-you-measure-it-bernie-sanders-isnt-winning-the-democratic-primary/

When you walk into Hillary Clinton’s national campaign headquarters in downtown Brooklyn, the first thing you see is an unsubtle reminder of the state of the race. There on the wall facing the reception desk is a huge chart, with every single pledged delegate and the state in which each was won indicated. There it is, in a series of filled-in blue and pink boxes: Why Clinton will almost certainly be her party’s nominee.

The delegate count is the only tally that matters in determining who will win each party’s nominating contest. It’s always been that way, but over time the selection of those delegates became more democratic. Right now the nomination process exists as a sort of demi-democratic process in which elections were retrofit to work with the internal decision-making processes of each party. So there are still vestiges of weirdness: caucuses, unpledged delegates and superdelegates and the conventions themselves. These are not the way purely democratic elections work.

Which is why some people are skeptical. The New York Times had an article over the weekend detailing the extent to which people think the process is at odds with democracy. It included this paragraph:

Backers of Sen. Bernie Sanders, bewildered at why he keeps winning states but cannot seem to cut into Hillary Clinton’s delegate count because of her overwhelming lead with “superdelegates,” have used Reddit and Twitter to start an aggressive pressure campaign to flip votes.

There's a lot that’s wrong with that understanding and that paragraph that’s worth exploring — which has ripples on the Republican side of the contest,

[Cha]

1. The backers of BS should talk to Hillary about that.. she's had that experience in 2008.. so

she knows a little about that. But, she lost the delegate count and picked herself up and nominated Barack Obama @ the DNC.. with grace and dignity.

All BS does is whine and so do his surrogates and backers. They think rules aren't for them.

The more aggressive and bullying they are the more people will shut them out.. and realize they made the right choice in the first place.. Hillary Clinton.

Mahalo, artist~

[Iamaartist]

2. I argree all BS does is whine almost like a kid who doesn't get it their way

[Stand and Fight]

3. Your last paragraph summed it up perfectly...

Even though I supported Hillary Clinton in 2008, I was on the fence until February 19th. I could have gone either way, but the more I looked at Sanders' supporters - their nastiness, their outright lies about Secretary Clinton's progressive credentials, the bullying of people who didn't agree with them, the all or nothing attitude - compounded with his lack of details for his plans, his recent conversion to being a Democrat seemed a move of opportunism, saying the same thing for 40 years without evolving or adapting, no money donated to down ticket Democrats, bashing our party for years, and I couldn't support him. Ever insult hurled on social media, every hide made here, every bit of snark lacking in substance or details, every hysterical posting, the comparisons to Jesus Christ (whom I have a close relationship with but neglect to mention 99% of the time), the defense of everything the candidate does and says... Well, that's very strange to me and doesn't seem to be grounded in reality.

[Cha]

4. So you were there for launching her campaign in New York.. kick off! I

don't mean literally but in spirit.

You're not the only one the sanders fans on DU have driven into Hillary's arms.. and then after you're there you realize what a brilliant candidate and she was the right one all along, amiright?

I was vehemently against her in 2008.. did I ever come around to doing a 180.. it happens.

I love it that President Obama and VP Biden make no bones that they want Hillary, too. Even though they can't make formal announcements. That's going to be all the more sweet when they can say it, and get out and campaign for her.

It's going to make spectacular rallies and tv!

[Stand and Fight]

8. I have a standing requirement for myself....

No matter how much I may feel an affinity for a candidate -- having long watched Bernie's career and having been a long time admirer of Secretary Clinton (and supporter in '08) -- I always take a few weeks to read up on the candidate's past, their current platform, and their vision for the future. I simply don't trust just my gut reaction to candidates, as many are most motivated by emotion rather than reason in their politics. I figure if a politician inspires great passion, then it's important to look at them even more closely. Both Hillary and Bernie do that for me. Though I haven't liked the way the Senator has gone as of late (or the vapidness of his more fervent supporters), I do continue to admire his stance on key issues and would like him to continue the fight in the Senate. As to Hillary, it's "ride or die" for me at this point -- figuratively, of course!

[LiberalFighter]

5. BS supporters and BS himself don't know the rules yet they think they know how to win.

They don't think they should follow the rules when it is what determines the outcome.

Just as in games there are different rules on how to play the game. Some games you score based on what you do like in football or in wrestling. Other games like golf it isn't scoring more that wins the game.

[stopbush]

6. We're at the point where Sanders is doing damage to Hillary for the GE.

Trump picked up Sanders' "unqualified" barb and hurled it at Hillary yesterday. The longer Sanders stays in, the more likely he'll be providing more arrows for the Rs to use against Hillary and the down ticket candidates. Any positive effect Sanders had by bringing certain issues to the fore in the campaign is being negated by the harn he's already doing to our nominee.

He needs to get out of the race now. He's a self-centered loose cannon, who for all the tediousness of his stump speech can't be trusted to say or do the right thing to help the Party and our candidates.

Sanders is showing us the risk the Ds ran by allowing a DINO to run in the D primaries. The Party needs to address this problem. It can't be allowed to happen again.

[BlueCaliDem]

7. I agree, 100%. At this point, even Sanders knows he's toast, but he's not going down until

he's done serious damage to the Democratic Party, Democratic officials, and the Democratic Party front-runner. He is damaging the Party brand - the very brand that President Obama has worked so hard, so tirelessly to repair and strengthen.

But he just doesn't care.

I also blame his supporters for this damage most of all (after all, they're proud of it, aren't they?). They're enablers. They're still sending him money, therefore, are paying for him to continue to do damage to my beloved Party because they're just as teed off as he is that he isn't going to win nor get the chance to "gut the Democratic Party". How dare we not allow that!

The solace I can take from this is, Hillary Clinton is no "No-Drama-Obama". Reminded of how she was in her past, I hope she lives up to her rep to go after her enemies 18x harder than they've gone after her.

[jmowreader]

9. They need to look a little closer at the states Bernie wins

We keep hearing Bernie "won the last seven contests." And so he did, but here are the numbers from those contests:

Idaho: 18 delegates
Utah: 27 delegates
Alaska: 13 delegates
Hawaii: 17 delegates
Washington State: 74 delegates
Wisconsin: 48 delegates
Wyoming: 7 delegates

Total: 204 delegates

Contrast that to Hillary running the table on March 15:
Florida: 141 delegates
Illinois: 76 delegates
Missouri: 36 delegates
North Carolina: 59 delegates
Ohio: 81 delegates

In the whole race, he's only left a state with fifty or more delegates twice: he snagged 67 of them in Michigan and 74 in Washington. Hillary did it four times on the same day. (And in case you're wondering, he's actually won three fewer contests than she has - she has 20, he has 17.)

Bernie is not behind in delegates because he is low on SDs. He is behind because the people in the big, delegate-rich states don't like him.