That is basically a kamikaze strategy however, since what Sanders has put together, it is increasingly clear, has already become a national movement. Perhaps a Clintonian "scorched-earth" campaign of lies, tricks and media manipulation could succeed in derailing the Sanders campaign -- though I doubt it. But if it did succeed, there would be no "unifying" possible later. The evident passion for Sanders himself among his followers is so great at this point that if Clinton's establishment backers and her Super PAC funders were to tear him down and deny him the nomination there would be no forgiving and forgetting possible.
This offers an interesting set of possible scenarios going forward.
The first would be that the polls continue to move Sanders' way as they have been showing a consistent pattern of doing in state after state primary and caucus. Already Clinton's lead in New York, where the primary is set for April 19, has been whittled down from over 40% to single digits. In Pennsylvania, which votes on April 26, a similar large margin for Clinton is down now to just a 4% spread, and that was before last night's "yuge" rally in the state's largest city. If Sanders were to win in New York, the state where Clinton served a term and a half as senator, and then in Pennsylvania, he would be on a march that would probably take him right through California on June 7. Even if he wound up a bit short of a majority of pledged delegates at that point, the superdelegates, mostly Democratic politicians, either in office or formerly in office and perhaps considering running again, would be hard pressed to continue supporting Clinton, who would be seen as badly damaged goods and as a bad bet for the general election.
Add to that the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Sanders backers who will almost certainly be in the streets of Philadelphia--a city of just 1 million--for the Democratic Convention in mid-July.
Images of the disastrous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago will surely be in anxious party leaders' heads. Chicago was where police brutally attacked anti-war backers of Sen. Eugene McCarthy, whose candidacy was stolen away by the establishment's candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a man who became badly damaged goods and went on to lose to Richard Nixon. Philadelphia's police department today is every bit as capable of brutality and thuggishness as was Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago PD almost half a century ago, but the Sanders backers in the street in Philly will not be a bunch of widely reviled long-haired hippies, yippies and pinko anti-war activists. They are, in large part, America's kids and young adults. Many of Philadelphia's cops may even have kids who will be part of the group in the streets backing Sanders, which might make a Chicago-style police riot less likely.
As we were heading back to our car with from the rally, my wife and I found ourselves walking behind the head of Temple University's police department, which had largely handled the security and traffic issues caused by the huge all-day line of people coming to attend the rally. A tall crew-cut wearing guy who looked 100% cop, when we complemented him on how his officers had handled the crowd management issue, he told us his own 21-year-old son was a "Bernie supporter."
In any event, the pressure will be intense this July in Philadelphia, should Sanders win a narrow majority of pledged delegates, to swing the deal with superdelegate votes who currently say they will vote for Clinton. That same pressure would be brought if Sanders comes close to winning a majority of pledged delegates but falls a bit short. Remember, everyone knows that pretty much all of Clinton's lead in pledged delegates by that time will only exist because of her wins in the early-voting states in the Deep South -- states like South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana -- none of which is likely to provide a single electoral vote for any Democrat in November. In other words, Clinton won big in states where it doesn't matter, and has been losing since then in states where it is critical for a Democrat to win big.
Another scenario would be for Sanders to continue to win elections, but by only narrow margins, leaving Clinton one or two hundred delegates ahead at the end of the process (thanks to those meaningless Deep South state wins). At that point, if Clinton was nominated, and with her facing Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or some other candidate put in place by Republican Party leaders at a brokered convention, one can imagine Sanders walking away, perhaps offering no endorsement because of Clinton's dirty campaigning.
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