State of the Democratic Race: media’s take.

Odds: note that Sanders was a 15-1 underdog for the Democratic nomination at one time; he is now between a 5-1 and 6-1 underdog. Hillary Clinton was at 4/9 for winning the presidency; she is now 8/15.

Eugene Robinson has a nice overview of the race: it has gotten chippy and Clinton has a healthy delegate lead; she was in the opposite position in 2008. Still, as E. J. Dionne argues, it is up to Hillary Clinton to put Bernie Sanders away and do it in a way that helps her in the fall. Paul Krugman notes the nastiness of the campaign (he is a Clinton supporter)

Note: the Sanders campaign knows that the math is against them; Hillary Clinton’s pledged delegates will be very hard to overcome. So the Sanders campaign is trying to make the Clinton superdelegates flip.

This presents an interesting issue: Sanders supporters were once outraged that the primary process is not strictly a “democratic” process (in that the public vote determines all). In fact, many don’t understand that a party can choose whatever process it wants, including just selecting their candidate by fiat.

So, I have no problem with the Sanders people trying to make the “hey, vote for me as I am the stronger candidate in the general election” argument to the superdelegates. I am amused when people complain about the “lack of democracy” in the process.

Advertisements