Too all the people saying DU 'isn't the real world' and that Bernie doesn't have a chance to win...

[Lancero]

Remember what people said about Obama, back in the past? He's a young canadiate... The hasn't done anything noteworthy... He's not well known enough... He's a unknown... He's go no chance against other more well known Democrats, let alone whoever gets the Republican nomination... You vote for him, you might as well GIVE Republicans the election... He's a nobody with no chance against Mccain...

And guess what folks? 8 years. Surprising isn't it, what can be done by ignoring the naysayers?

[onehandle]

1. Obama was a superstar after his 2004 convention speech.

Nobody in their right mind didn't think he'd be President some day.

And almost every political statistician said that no matter who we nominated, we'd win.

I'm not saying Bernie can't win, but let's get history right.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. 'some day'.

If you want to get history 'right' you have to admit conventional wisdom was that that 'day' wasn't going to be in 2008.

And almost every political statistician said that no matter who we nominated, we'd win.

And haven't the demographics only improved since then? Isn't the presidential electorate even more composed of minorities than it was in 2008?

[okaawhatever]

14. Much of that was based on the backlash from the Bush presidency. Yes, the demographics are improving

but some of the more significant effects won't be felt until Texas and Florida have enough minorities, women and younger people (and hold onto the educated white male vote) to turn those states blue.

The largest increase in hispanic/latino voters is in Texas, but that state is still red so the effect of those votes won't translate into more Dem support due to the electoral system. That is also why the majority of GOP candidates are from Florida and Texas. They know they're going to need at least one, if not both, of those states to win the Presidency.

The big hope for Texas is actually getting the current hispanic/latino voters registered and to the polls.

From Pew:

The unchanged Hispanic share of voters suggests that the Hispanic voter turnout rate may not have changed much from 2010, when 31.2% of Hispanic eligible voters cast a vote.

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2014/11/07/hispanic-voters-in-the-2014-election/

[yeoman6987]

29. I am actually worried about the Midwest and eventually

Northeast. The Midwest was always blue bit is changing purple and the Northeast keeps losing population and electoral every census. Those need addressed.

[okaawhatever]

30. I wonder what it will look like when the baby boomer generation begins to lose it's outsized

influence?

[Gothmog]

31. Clinton could win Texas

There is a 2013 poll that shows that HRC could put Texas into play http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/01/clinton-could-win-texas.html

PPP's newest Texas poll finds that, at least for now, Hillary Clinton could win the state in 2016. This follows on the heels of a survey last month where we found she would have a decent chance of winning Kentucky if she makes another White House bid.

50% of Texas voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton to 43% with a negative one. She's universally well liked by Democrats (91/5) and a majority of independents view her positively as well (52/41). She holds narrow leads in hypothetical match ups with Marco Rubio (46/45) and Chris Christie (45/43) and a wider one in a contest against Rick Perry (50/42).

HRC is very popular in Texas and if she selects Julian Castro as her running mate, there will be some real excitment

I admit that as a Texas Democrat, I would love to see my state in play but I also think that HRC is the stronger and more electable caniddate

[okaawhatever]

33. Thanks for the info. I imagine the voter registration drive that took place for Wendy Davis will

help Clinton as well. It will be interesting to see how Texas plays out if Jeb is the GOP nominee.

[Gothmog]

35. Battleground Texas' support for Wendy Davis was suppose to be a dry run for HRC

The Texas voter suppression law work and suppress the vote for Wendy Davis but some progress was made in Texas. For example, voter for the Texas GOP governor candidate went up 2010 compared to 2014 but the votes for the Democratic governor candidate were down 300,000 votes (approximately) which is what the experts in the voter id trial expected

Texas will turn blue.

[okaawhatever]

36. Wow. That is pretty significant. Thanks for the info. nt

[leftofcool]

6. +1

[okaawhatever]

16. I was at work and didn't hear the speech, but my sister who isn't interested in politics heard it

and said a future President spoke last night. She asked if I saw the speech and when I said no she said before he finished speaking she knew he would be President one day. That is a very rare occurance. Even my libertarian brother campaigned for him.

[sabrina 1]

41. Bernie is a super star and now he's in the race and yes, he can win. And he has

an extremely enthusiastic army of supporters ready to work night and day to make that happen.

[Hiraeth]

2. McCain really, really helped Obama when he chose Palin for his running mate, imo.

[onehandle]

7. Yep. It helped McCain for about 24 hours.

And then non-political junkies saw her for what she was.

A day later, McCain's numbers went flat.

[treestar]

9. Obama would have beaten McCain

whoever his running mate was.

[Hiraeth]

13. possibly.

[FarPoint]

4. I'm going wait judgement at this time.....

The Primaries are for candidate vetting and I am looking forward to this round. With Hillary and Bernie...there are pro's and cons for both candidates. I fit into Bernie's liberal, progressive stance and respect immensely Hillary's ability to fight the GOP as well as her brilliance and life long experience.

Let the battle begin....Primaries are coming.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. Bernie will have the "self-proclaimed socialist" albatross tossed around his neck.

That will disqualify him amongst s huge voting block right out if the gate - right or wrong (mostly wrong).

[treestar]

8. OTOH it does not necessarily mean Bernie will win either

Obama has a lot going for him that Bernie doesn't, and did back in 2008.

[leftofcool]

10. Bernie Sanders is just as electable as any other Democrat.

All he lacks at the moment is name recognition and someone needs to tell the media to stop labeling him as a "socialist." Right or wrong, that term turns many voters off, especially the more moderate Democrats.

[HereSince1628]

15. He'll never be free of the label...he, and his supporters have to own it as positive

I'm not sure what course that's going to follow, but it's going to happen

It's obviously the starkest contrast between Sanders and the Libertarian/Me-Party and it won't be ignored.

[winetourdriver]

25. Yes!

You are right, they must completely embrace the whole socialist meme, take it and run with it.. It's going to take some good planning to come up with something that might work. You know, when I look at Sen. Sanders and HRC, I think man if we could combine those two people, we would have someone who could beat anybody...

[okaawhatever]

19. You haven't begun to hear references to Sanders being a Socialist. The GOP wants him to win the

nomianation, he's easier to beat. They'll hold back to see if he has a chance. If he did win the nomination the word socialist would become his new middle name. The same holds for any other Sanders baggage out there. The GOP won't bring out their big guns until/unless Bernie wins If he does there will be a ton of negative press.

[MaggieD]

34. Yep - as long as the GOP is....

... Pretty much ignoring him you'll know they consider him not to be a threat. I do suspect they will use him at some point in time to paint the Democratic Party as socialist though if he does get any traction. They will think they can get mileage out of that.

[okaawhatever]

45. I googled to see what the GOP was saying about that & I came across this from 2 days ago:

Is Bernie Sanders the Most Liberal Senator?
By DAVID BOAZ SHARE
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent socialist from Vermont, is running for president as a Democrat. Since he’s a self-proclaimed socialist, he’s surely to the left of all the Democrats in Congress, right? Well, a few years ago I checked into that, and I found that in fact plenty of Democratic senators have been known to spend the taxpayers’ money more enthusiastically than Sanders:

http://www.cato.org/blog/bernie-sanders-most-liberal-senator

Bernie Sanders isn't that liberal in his voting record. The National Journal ranks him as 31st and 37th most liberal Senator. I guess the GOP meme is going to be that all the Democratic candidates are to the left of the Socialist.

[leftofcool]

42. Very true!

[MaggieD]

28. He labeled himself as a socialist (nt)

[okaawhatever]

32. +100 nt

[leftofcool]

43. Yes, I know. I just think it isn't helping his case.

[Tommy2Tone]

11. I love Bernie

but he can't win. Nice try though.

[Gman]

12. Sanders is living and breathing therefore he has a chance

But thank goodness DU is not the real world.

[KittyWampus]

17. Obama had Axelrod, Plouffe and actual DEMOCRATS like Kerry and Ted Kennedy behind him

He was an excellent fund raiser.

He was the Keynote Speaker at the Convention.

[HappyMe]

18. I think he does have a chance.

I don't give a crap when somebody says "unelectable!1". Now that Bernie is in, I'm glad to have a candidate I will support with money and my time.

[brooklynite]

20. Obama spent a year organizing his campaign before announcing...

...he had the financial and political resources to campaign effectively. I don't see Sanders coming close to that.

NB -- apologies: I now understand that if I suggest that Sanders can't win, I'm being offensive.

[MaggieD]

26. LOL - yes...

.... Apparently we must now ALL get on the Bernie fantasy train or face the consequences!

[Agschmid]

44. I don't feel it's offensive.

But that's just me.

[LiberalArkie]

21. http://www.reddit.com/r/sandersforpresident

[BeyondGeography]

22. Different times

On the face of it, Bernie has a lot going against him. But he will be able to tap into the demand for an authentic response to the big, stinking maladies of our times.

Hillary has said many of the right things, but her cynicism (or was it just tone deafness) showed with that, "1% need to be toppled," line. Now that Bill has run up the score to the tune of many tens of millions of dollars in classic political insider fashion? Please.

At the very least, Bernie will help keep things real. I'm not sold on his ability to be something more than the resident truth teller, but I'm looking forward to seeing the show and how it plays out.

[MaggieD]

23. Bad analogy

But best of luck to him.

[sendero]

24. It just never occurs to the hidebound..

.... pundit class and the one-inch thinkers that the country, after 35 years of trickle-down/tax-cut/free-trade FAILURE that folks might be ready for a truly progressive candidate, not the head fake we got the last 7 years.

[woo me with science]

27. How do we know those are Third Way lies and talking points?

How do we know the Third Way KNOWS they are lying when they repeat like a mantra that liberals can't win?

Because Third Way corporate politicians routinely LIE their way through campaigns pretending to be more liberal than they actually are. They mouth empty promises about fighting for a public option or putting on comfortable walking shoes for unions or taking on criminal banks. They *always* pivot leftward in their rhetoric during campaigns in order to win votes, because they know that voters are significantly to the left of the predatory corporate agenda they actually stand for.

[JaneyVee]

37. Right, but the third way isn't in charge of polling.

And the poll numbers don't lie.

[woo me with science]

38. LOL.

And polls at this point are name recognition. And Hillary's trajectory has been steadily downward.

But you knew that.

[JaneyVee]

39. Downward, from astronomical, to double digits.

Of course poll numbers will change, but it's common sense to believe Bernie has a huge uphill climb, both in name recognition and fundraising.

[tritsofme]

40. If 2008 is a guide, Sanders is Kucinich, not Obama.

Obama already had a healthy position in the polls at this point in the race. He was a serious contender in a field with two other serious contenders, Hillary and initially Edwards.

Sanders has no chance and is a minor candidate, not a serious contender.

[Major Hogwash]

46. And Obama beat Hillary handily!!

The 2008 campaign at DU was rife with rants against Obama.
It was flat out ugly time here at DU.
DU became a forum for many people to spew all kinds of bullshit about Obama, yet he won.

Haters gonna hate.