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Thursday, April 28, 2016

Is Bernie Sanders Feeling the Math?

There are some signs he is. Yesterday he explicitly assured an audience he knows math and knows he's losing-though he still tried to hold out hope that 'something' could change. A Black Swan event?

"With nearly everyone involved now acknowledging that Hillary Clinton is the de facto democratic party nominee, and even with polls suggesting that most supporters of Bernie Sanders are prepared to get behind her, the Democratic Party unity effort appears to have strong long-term prospects. But in the short term, that effort faces an odd hurdle: the Sanders campaign appears to be in chaos today, with conflicting messages and no clear sign of who’s calling the shots. The best thing that Hillary’s supporters can do right now in the name of party unity might be to keep a respectful distance until the dust settles."

http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/the-bernie-sanders-campaign-is-in-chaos-today-hillary-supporters-should-keep-their-distance/24608/

There are definitely some mixed messages. But it seems that he is trying to wind down. Sometimes it takes a little while. Certainly I always keep my distance from Berners on general principle.

But it does seem he is feeling the math. He started cutting his budget and staff yesterday.

"SANDERS SEES WRITING ON THE WALL: In an interview with the New York Times, Bernie Sanders seems to dramatically scale back expectations:

"Mr. Sanders said he would now refocus his efforts chiefly on the June 7 primary in California….By winning there, he said, he hoped to strengthen his hand ahead of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, where he would push his core priorities into the party platform. “If we can win the largest state in this country, that will send a real message to the American people,” Mr. Sanders said, “and to the delegates that this is a campaign that is moving in the direction it should.”

"This is consistent with an endgame in which Sanders enters into unity talks with Clinton after the voting ends and ends up reaching some kind of accommodation before the convention.

In an interview with me, Rep. Keith Ellison, a top supporter of Bernie Sanders who is also the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, suggested the Clinton camp had some work to do in order to appeal to Sanders’s supporters. But he also carefully noted that Sanders would not do anything to imperil the party unity that will be required to defeat Donald Trump.

“Young people have a set of priorities that make them want to support Bernie Sanders,” Ellison said. “If hypothetically she wins the nomination, in order to get people to support Bernie, she’s going to have to carry the banner that Bernie carried in an overt way. She’s going to have to make it clear to people who support Bernie that she gets where he’s coming from.”

But Ellison added: “Every Bernie supporter knows that this Supreme Court issue is looming. We’ll have party unity….everybody has a responsibility to make sure there will never be a President Trump. Bernie has been around a long time….he’s not going to hand this country over to Donald Trump.”

"Meanwhile, Politico reports that Sanders is increasingly focused on seeking influence over the party agenda as a way to wind things down. He’s hoping for signs of genuine commitment to priorities like debt free college and a $15 minimum wage, and to reforms to the nomination process that might maximize participation among the sort of young, unaffiliated Sanders voters who were excluded from the New York primary."

I do believe she's already come out for debt free college. Bernie's plan is for tuition free college. In truth though, it isn't quite tuition free college. On $15, there is not nearly as much daylight as he's wanted to suggest. He's for $15, she's for $12, but she is all for the push to $15 at the state level and would sign a bill for $15 if the Democrats in Congress put it on her desk.

There are not as many differences as some make it seem. In any case, it is no secret Hillary is the presumptive nominee. Bernie is basically acknowledging that. He hopes to win California to give himself a little bit of narrative.

But we're getting there folks. It won't be long until Hillary is the first female nominee of a major American political party.

Feel the Hil.

Here is an interesting piece in the Daily Beast that looks at women and marriage, focusing on Beyonce, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/28/beyonce-hillary-michelle-and-the-business-of-american-marriage.html?via=mobile&source=twitter

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