Thomas Edsall's column this morning, "If Bernie Wins, Where Will He Take the Democratic Party?," is for the most part a compendium of conventional wisdom regarding the likely disastrous outcome for the Democrats in a Sanders vs. Trump general election. David Frum expressed the same sentiment the other day in a debate on Democracy Now! against Jacobin's Bhaskar Sunkara.
The idea is that Bernie is far too left of the electorate; that he would drag down the senate and house. I think that's true in 1992 America but not true today. The other thing to keep in mind, something that both Frum and Edsall refuse to explore, is that every potential Democratic contender for the presidency is going to face significant challenges beating Trump. Why split the party by blocking Bernie's nomination a second time in a row?
The answer from the DNC perspective is that a split party is better than a party controlled by Sanders.
The muddled outcome in Iowa -- Buttigieg and Sanders neck and neck with approximately 30% of the precincts left to count -- doesn't change anything in the primary race. I still think Bernie is the candidate to beat. Biden and Warren are in trouble. Buttigieg will be a flash in the pan. And the DNC is going to bank on Mike Bloomberg to save the day.
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