One day before the Wisconsin primary, the Bernie Sanders campaign has all but conceded that Hillary Clinton has clinched the nomination.
An eye-opening story in The New York Times reveals the Sanders campaign has been more effective than they hoped. But early missteps seem to have cost him the nomination:
“Mr. Sanders is now campaigning more effectively than many expected, exposing Mrs. Clinton’s weaknesses as a candidate, and is positioning himself to win contests like the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday. But allies and advisers of Mr. Sanders say they missed opportunities to run an aggressive political operation in 2015 that would have presented more of a challenge to Mrs. Clinton. She has now firmly built a big lead in delegates needed to clinch the nomination — a margin that would be smaller if Mr. Sanders had run differently last year, according to interviews with more than 15 people who are on his team or close to him.”
…All those decisions stemmed in part from Mr. Sanders’s outlook on the race. He was originally skeptical that he could beat Mrs. Clinton, and his mission in 2015 was to spread his political message about a rigged America rather than do whatever it took to win the nomination. By the time he caught fire with voters this winter and personally began to believe he could defeat Mrs. Clinton, she was already on her way to building an all but insurmountable delegate lead.”
Sanders is predicted to win the Wisconsin primary tomorrow but only by a few points. If he has any hope of winning the nomination, he has to win in Wisconsin, New York and California by much bigger margins.
Admitting in advance he’s already lost the bigger contest can’t be a great incentive for getting out the vote just when he needs it the most.
Featured image is by Phil Roeder, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.
