Senator Bernie Sanders is proud of his status as an Independent Senator

[apnu]

35. I agree, the Democratic primary is for the Party, not the country.

And thus, the winner will need to appeal to party members more than whatever left leaning independents who come along for the ride.

The General Election is for the country. Right now, all of this is about internal Democratic Party issues, but happens in a very public way.

I don't mean the people who vote Democratic because of identity, I am talking about the people who actually make up the party. Who go to the meetings, who work for, who volunteer, who phone bank, who raise money, who donate to the Democratic Party. They are the party, everybody else is just along for the ride.

Its those people Bernie has to convince to win this primary season. And on the left/progressive side of things, he's got competition mainly from Warren, but also Mayor Pete. By Feb. 1 of 2016, O'Malley had dropped out, seeding the whole left field to Bernie.

So Bernie's first, biggest, task is gathering much of the progressive Democratic party members to his side, no small task, when there are a bunch of Democratic members who will like a long time Democratic member over a career indy.

In 2016, I voted for Bernie in my state's primary. I want a progressive to lead us and he was my only option. Not that I had a problem with Hillary, but I wanted to see a progressive have a go at it. I still want that, but I'm backing Warren instead this year, mainly because she's a team player. She can and does build coalitions. That's important to me.

This is a big tent, we make space for everybody here, including Bernie who loves being an outsider. We need leadership that can listen to all the groups, and plot a course forward for most.

That's how democracy works: compromise and collations.