Here's how Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race

[bigtree]

Mark Murray @mmurraypolitics
Here's how Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race. Via @NBCFirstRead http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-how-hillary-clinton-clinched-n587056


Hillary Clinton took advantage of four factors in her race against Bernie Sanders.

She ran up the score in large states with large minority populations: Clinton's biggest delegate hauls were in large states with large minority populations, which allowed her to build a comfortable delegate lead over Sanders by March 15. By contrast, only one of Sanders' wins -- in Washington state -- netted him more than 40 delegates. All of the other big wins were Clinton's.

Self-identified Democrats were her firewall: The chief reason why Sanders was unable to run up the score in the states he won is because of Clinton's strong performance with self-identified Democrats. When Sanders won, it was due to independents. But in the 27 states with exit polls, Clinton won self-identified Democrats by a 64%-35% margin, as the Atlantic's Ron Brownstein has observed.

Mark Murray ?@mmurraypolitics 2h2 hours ago
1. She won big -- in the largest states with large minority populations

2. She won, 2-to-1, among self-ID'ed Dems

Party establishment embraced her and resisted Sanders: "The Party Decides" didn't work in the Republican presidential race, but it certainly did in the Democratic contest. Superdelegates have overwhelmingly backed Clinton by a 572-to-46 margin. It is very hard to lose a Democratic race when 1) self-identified Democrats and 2) Democratic Party elites are behind you.

A no- (or little-) drama campaign: Unlike her campaign eight years ago, Clinton's 2016 campaign team never lost its cool or composure, even when things weren't going that well. Producing little drama is a benefit to any campaign -- and it's very hard to achieve.


read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-how-hillary-clinton-clinched-n587056

[tonyt53]

1. Like making any job easier, just work smarter. Hillary was way smarter than Bernie.

[laruemtt]

28. "Hillary was way smarter than Bernie" -

Mama always explained the difference between cleverness and true creative intelligence. Cleverness is merely being able to figure out how to get things to go your way. Hillary had the "cleverness" to figure out how to get everything to swing her way, starting even before all six of those rather fortuitous coin tosses in Iowa. Intelligence is more about vision, and not only limited to self-serving ambitions. I haven't seen any vision from the clever, self-serving Hilliary, and she will never get my vote.

[HumanityExperiment]

2. ...the radical fringe candidate...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/how-bernie-sanders-evolved-from-fringe-candidate-to-contender/

Bernie wins on principle, he's the only candidate to do so

His appeal leaves HRC and Trump in the dust inside and OUTSIDE party lines...

this is the takeaway that HRC supporters can't deny nor marginalize

the continuing of that pricipled stand will proceed throughout GE... HRC supporters, buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride as we principled progressives demand and force you to the left and hold you there

[tonyt53]

4. Got news for ya, us Democrats aren't going to let non-Democrats tell us what to do.

And no, Bernie has no principles. He has shown that by not releasing his tax returns, as every other presidential candidate except Trump has done for many years. And no, speeches do not matter, but tax returns sure do. What the hell is a progressive anyway? I'm a Democrat.

[HumanityExperiment]

8. ...got news for ya...

without independents you'll lose, so guess what the GE centers on... hmmm... what group is catered to throughout GE... hmmm, who is that group again...

Bernie has the greater appeal, you and everyone else know this

'Bernie has no principles.'

drum roll.... here's the kicker and 'supporting' point to your 'validation' of your premise

'He has shown that by not releasing his tax returns, as every other presidential candidate except Trump has done for many years.'

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaa

there it is folks.. the benchmark HRC supporters have concerning 'principles'

actual policy and issue speeches don't matter folks your tax returns do...
'And no, speeches do not matter, but tax returns sure do.'

for the comedic relief and punch line....
'What the hell is a progressive anyway? I'm a Democrat.'

We get it, you and other HRC don't know progressive/liberal ideals, your candidate proves that over and over... party over principle... we get it... you're a 'democrat', HRC is republican light her and evidently your shift right is easily proven

case in point...

[pnwmom]

19. Independents won't be any better off under Trump than Democrats will.

So it doesn't work to try to hold that threat over Dems. If you sit it out, you'll pay the consequences, too.

[HumanityExperiment]

20. ...lesser evil pivot...

there ya go... the lesser evil bait and switch

Independents were marginalized ny HRC supporters during primary... now they matter? spare me

threat? it's not a threat when you and all those other HRC supporters disregarded independents throughout the open primaries

principle over party... choose wisely... I did

[randome]

30. How can you say with a straight face that he has 'appeal' when he didn't get the votes he needed?

Clearly he didn't have as much appeal as you want to imagine.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[HumanityExperiment]

31. name recognition...

let's check the box....

Both HRC and Trump have name and notoriety recognition

Bernie was labelled 'fringe' and 'radical' candidate by HRC at the onset of the primary... that suppressive tactic failed miserably

The crowds showed his level of appeal, but you will pivot to rallies didn't translate to votes... I would counter with open and closed primaries

I would also counter with SDs pledging before a single primary vote was cast.. why did they do that?

I 'imagine' that principle over party doesn't matter much to you, it does to me...

HRC is republican light... her past and now present prove this out as she's had to be yanked way to the left, beyond her comfort level

'modern progressive' WTF? yeah... right...

party over principle is something I cannot abide by, HRC and her husband have pulled the party right, that's wrong

back to the point of appeal, demographics bear out my point, if more primaries were open rather than closed this race would have been very different

you know it as well as I, facts are within the data

[GummyBearz]

3. So wrong on so many levels

1. name recognition
2. insider politics
3. money

[bigtree]

7. but, revolution

...so much dismissal in that of what Sanders' campaign claimed were their superior strengths; independent (i.e., outsider); anti-establishment; grassroots fundraising.

[geek tragedy]

11. 4. they disenfranchised birds nt

[FSogol]

5. Short version: Better ground game & worked on getting support from Democratic party standard bearers

That's the key to beating Trump too. We need a massive turnout.

[justiceischeap]

9. Don't forget about organization

One thing that was glaringly obvious in Sanders' campaign was lack of organization. This is born out by story after story of his campaign not actually knowing the primary rules.

You can't hope to win the game (and it is a game in many ways), without knowing the rules. Clinton has that to her advantage, tenfold. She's been through the Presidential primary process 4 times now (2 with Bill, 2 on her own) and a person, if they're smart and paying attention, picks up knowledge that showed invaluable in this run. Add on top of great organization, is that she has had support from some corners of the Democratic Party (and Democratic voters) since 2008--talk about loyalty. These folks have been chomping at the bit to help her win this primary. You may not have seen thousands of people at Clinton's rallies but those people showed up where it counted... at the polls. Bernie can't say the same.

[FSogol]

10. Ground game is organization, but you are correct.

I remember reading on DU that at Sander's 2nd or 3 big rally at the start, they didn't have anyone registering people to vote. That has to be job number one at every event, especially large rallies.

[justiceischeap]

13. I thought Bernie's ground game was fairly good except the lack of organization

based on reading about not registering voters, my opinion that if you're counting on Independents, then you better get their registration changed prior to the primaries so they can participate in closed primaries, etc. But you're right ground game is organization too.

[FSogol]

16. I disagree there. Sander's internet campaign was awesome and so was word of mouth about the

candidate. What was lacking was the organization to have a good ground game. No one registering voters, no one knocking on doors, no one preparing sample ballots (or even understanding what they were), no one understanding the rules for each state/primary, not enough precinct captains in PR, not even applying correctly to reserve certain venues. I blame Weaver and Devine. They didn't do the work and didn't bring in people capable of doing the work.

By contrast, Obama's campaign combined a huge social media buzz with a top notch ground game and he beat the establishment candidate. Sanders only duplicated the social media half of Obama's campaign.

[justiceischeap]

17. When put that way, I have to agree. nt

[FSogol]

21. I seen it because I've been on the losing side of too many campaigns.

Carter, Mondale, Hart, Dukakis, Tsongas, Gore, Kerry, Richardson, O'Malley

[justiceischeap]

22. I've been a bit more fortunate

I've always been much more about getting the Democrat elected and not getting too wrapped up in a particular candidate. My first Presidential election, I initially supported Jerry Brown against Clinton but happily supported Clinton when the time came.

[FSogol]

23. Yeah, I always switch to the Democratic candidate. On the State/Local level, I do much better.

[SidDithers]

15. Agreed. Weaver was a joke, right from the very beginning...

Remember his comments about Iowa?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sanders-campaign-cites-alarming-signs-clinton-020552922.html

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — Jeff Weaver, the presidential campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., says he is worried Hillary Clinton’s team is resorting to “irregular” tactics to win the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1.

Weaver’s concern is based on what he described as an “alarming” letter received by a voter named Dennis Clifford in Hawarden, Iowa. Although Clifford is a Sanders supporter, the letter, from a Clinton campaign office in Sioux City, urged him to caucus for Clinton and identified a non-resident as his local precinct captain. That would not actually be prohibited, but Weaver, who admitted he wasn’t familiar with the rules, claimed it indicated the Clinton campaign is “infiltrating the caucuses with out-of-state paid staffers.”

Seriously. A campaign manager who "wasn't familiar with the rules". The mind boggles.

'Course, that was back when the Sanders campaign thought caucuses were bad. Before they determined that caucuses were about all that they could win.

Sid

[FSogol]

18. He also thought the Democratic primaries were winner take all.

[Yavin4]

6. IOW, Democratic voters and Democratic party leaders chose Hillary as their Democratic nominee for

president.

Wow, the system is rigged!!!

[Jitter65]

12. Surprised that people here still diss the AA vote. I wouldn't diss the Hispanic vote either

Last edited Tue Jun 7, 2016, 12:29 PM - Edit history (1)

but together they will account for a win for dems in Nov if fools here don't alienate them before the GE.

[justiceischeap]

14. I've never dissed the AA vote but you're right about the Hispanic vote

they're the fastest growing voting bloc in the country right now. Clinton did a really good job of not dismissing them.

[Nye Bevan]

24. The candidate who is smart, focused, organized, and runs rings around her opponent,

is the candidate that I want to be president.

[texstad79]

25. To win the Democratic nomination

it helps if you are actually a Democrat!

[highprincipleswork]

26. She managed to lie herself past serious scrutiny of e-mail and server questions.

[bigtree]

29. her answers seemed fine for 'low information' types like me

...no one seemed to really care, though, except for her most strident opponents on both sides of the political spectrum.

Maybe it'll all catch fire in D.C., you seem to have run out of primary.

After that, it's just the republican campaign...welp!

[hobbit709]

27. with a cold deck.