If an individual's viewpoint is Unique in a Party

[cthulu2016]

then that individual cannot possibly win that Party's nomination.

This is just kind of a math thing...

I am tired of the Warren thing being a punching bag, so let's use Bernie Sanders.

I like Bernie Sanders. If I could push a button and make Bernie Sanders president I would do so.

Knowing what we know now, I would not push a button to make him the nominee, but I would be delighted for him to be President. (Me pushing a button would not be evidence of broad support, and I wouldn't want a genral election candidate without evidence of broad support. I think the primary process is probably usually smarter than me at picking who voters vote for.)

Now, could he win the nomination? That is a practical question having little to do with his virtue.

He is a self-identified independent socialist, which is cool by me.

One way to gage how much support there is in the Democratic Party for the self-identified independent socialist position would be to look at who those Democrats vote for. Are there a lot of independent socialists elected by the people who vote in Democratic primaries?

No. Nationally there are not a lot. And expanding the category to include all extreme economic liberals in our Party doesn't help much. Still not a lot.

This suggests that Bernie Sanders would not be likely to win the nomination because there is no evidence that his stance is widespread in the Democratic Party.

It SHOULD BE, but it is not.

Anybody who is ideologically "the only" or "one of the few" in the Party is not likely to do well in Party primaries.

So what one hopes for is that a Party is badly out of touch with its rank-and-file. And that is possible.

In that case, an atypical candidate could win.

Does Bernie Sanders actually better represent the average Democrat than some centrist candidate?

That is possible. And it can be argued. It is what one must argue when arguing that someone way out of sync with elected Democrats might be selected by voting Democrats.

Is there evidence for the proposition? Not that is plain to me, but perhaps there is. And if there is then that's cool.

[jwirr]

1. I am not so sure he thinks he can win either but he does want a true progressive to challenge

Hillary. Someone has to ask the right questions so that she has to give us answers. The primary is the right place to do that. The primary is not a coronation it is a race to the end.

[cthulu2016]

2. I want Hillary, or any centrist candidate, pushed to the left.

I encourage Sanders or Warren or whoever to run, even if primarily to advance positions in relative terms.

All for it.