Can Bernie Sanders Beat Hillary Clinton?

[GoLeft TV]

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign has been steadily picking up steam over the past several weeks. And the more we see from him, the more we realize he may actually have a shot at winning.

Ring of Fire hosts Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss this.

[pocoloco]

1. Polar bear shit in the snow??

[turbinetree]

2. YES

I guess you can say I am a big supporter of the Senator of workers rights Bernie Sanders

[swilton]

6. You said it better than I could

[bunnies]

3. That nails it.

Plain & simple. Go Bernie!

[bvar22]

4. Yep.

!

[LiberalArkie]

5. I think he can and I think he could take the office, but

unless he reigns in the CIA, NSA and others, I feel he would be taken down like Carter. But I think he knows the risks. Everyone thought Obama would have been killed, but he turned into a good player that he ended up being a keeper.

[jalan48]

11. Exactly. Those are the real powers running the country.

The military/industrial/security state. How do you deal with this entrenched danger to our democracy?

[Helen Borg]

7. Yes, if Clinton has a meltdown

[NYC_SKP]

8. Yes INDEED!

[Thinkingabout]

9. Hillary has not appeared on any talk shows since she announced.

I would like to see a link or links where Hillary is trying to push Bernie aside. Bernie is going to have to sell himself, get the votes to win. Let's be honest here, his poll numbers are not fantastic and you can cry name recognition but it is up to Bernie to push his selling job.

[staggerleem]

19. You are correct.

Bernie has, as always, been talking about the issues that people really care about, things that affect the everyday lives of Americans, and has been discussing strategies and policies.

Hillary has been talking about "vision" and offering platitudes, and little else. No TV appearances, no press conferences - she rarely even takes a serious question from a reporter.

At this point, it looks like the supposed "favorite" is the lightweight, and like Bernie is the adult in the room. I think she's hoping he'll talk himself into a corner, and then just go away, but that's not who Bernie is.

[Thinkingabout]

23. You probably do not listen to what she is saying when she interacts with people

And have not read her stand on the issues. She cares deeply about women's issues, children's issues, healthcare, minimum wage increases, wage disparity and Citizens United just to name a few.

This is a link to the issues site for Hillary:

http://ontheissues.org/hillary_clinton.htm

Honest conversations are needed, I have not seen anything where she is trying to push Bernie aside. If you have a link then please provide it.

[freshwest]

40. HRC, Dean and the DNC immediately welcomed him to the primary race...

Guess some are trying to reframe 2016 in terms of 2008. There were a lot of candidates then, and Edwards and Clinton reportedly wanted the later debates to shut out Kucinich, Gravel and anyone else who weren't showing well in polling or 'serious candidates' at that point. Obama stayed out of it but the debates became smaller. MG and DK did not make it on the ballots in all 50 states, either.

Hillary is following her own path, Bernie is following his, and the others don't seem to have had this on their minds long enough for me to take very seriously at this point. Bernie's numbers have jumped up to 24% from 13% which is impressive. Clinton's percentages appear to range from 3 to 4 times as much.

Sanders will have to get the support of women and minorities who Clinton is doing well with right now. At the present, in our online bubble, this is reminiscent of the Paul enthusiasm which didn't pan out off line and they were very angry. They were very much anti-HRC and pro-Paul and my indeed vote for Bernie for the same reason.

But they don't matter to us, not really. Any attempt to win the primaries or the general must be a ground game. There are no substitutes or excuses to not run a good ground campaign.

I like both of these candidates, would be proud to vote for either. I'm concerned that I'm hearing people are being turned off by Bernie, not on the basis of himself, but supporters who can't control their vitriol toward Clinton. That's a lose for our party's unity, to have people supporting candidates from a negative point of view.

Because the GOP still has very formidable financial backing. They will saturate the airways up until the last moment more intensely than the poutrage posted here from those who are fired up by them. And the GOPs are extremely actiive. Among the RWNJs, there will be no dispute in the end. If they can't get who they want, they'll vote GOP to stop the 'babykilling' Hillary and the 'commie' Bernie is no matter who wins the DP nomination and we can't ignore their unity.

Most of the last few elections for POTUS have been too close for comfort. We need to respect all of our candidates and vote!

[Thinkingabout]

41. I like Hillary's early roll out, she is meeting with people and listening. It is seldom people gets

To sit down and talk with the candidates. It takes lots of campaign funds to travel like Hillary is doing and the cheaper way to campaign is to get on the talk shows. As we saw last week when the press asks questions it does not allow Hillary to spell out her agenda. Asking questions about her email is not what should be ask of a candidate when trying to get to the issues.

[mother earth]

10. Yes, HE CAN.

[Gregorian]

12. Thank you. "He has nothing to hide"

I think there is a broad spectrum of voters who see the value in the truth, and in high morals.

These changes may not happen tomorrow. This is a bigger picture. Not even two terms of administrations, but a new direction and starting point for the making of a more civil society.

We could almost list the number of ways in which we're in trouble. I can almost laugh when I think about how the way people are taught how to be civilized indeed is a trickle down process. Take that Reagan.

[7962]

13. I've never seen anything negative about him.

Even the right can only say "he's a Socialist". Theres no dirt to throw. No skeletons in the closet.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Hillary. Few people trust her and it seems as though a lot of her own supporters only support her because she's a woman and NOT a republican. And she's got a ton of baggage like it or not.
And Sanders has NONE of that.

[Vincardog]

14. Bernie Sanders will win. We can't let them steal it again.

[Enthusiast]

15. I believe Bernie can win.

He will then have to rally the American people for the task ahead which is monumental.

The status quo is straight off the cliff so we must have Bernie as President and be ready for a huge fight. We can expect the media to get behind Bernie's opponents like they got behind Bush on Iraq.

[ColesCountyDem]

16. Although I'm supporting Bernie, I don't honestly know if he can beat Sec. Clinton.

Sec. Clinton is enormously popular among the rank-and-file, and we shouldn't kid ourselves that she isn't.

[PatrynXX]

18. however rank and file don't always vote

Bernie would clearly get out the vote.

[ColesCountyDem]

24. That's why I said I'm not sure.

It could happen.

[PatrynXX]

17. well most are tired of this Bush vs clinton crap

yes blame Bush but anyone claiming they'll win so far has lost twice. Hillary in 08 and Willard Romney in 12

[floriduck]

26. And I'm tired of

Obama vs America's middle class.

[MissDeeds]

20. Absolutely Bernie can win

He is a true man of the people. The more people see him and hear his message, the greater his support will be.

K&R

[peacebird]

33. Exactly!

[SoapBox]

21. Time for CHANGE!

Wow...this is a huge K&R.

[captainarizona]

22. bernies challenge

Bernie's challenge he has some liberal activists. Hillary has union support (if she stays out of tpp fight) hispanics and asians with citizenship offer. African-americans are ambivalent ;but more likely to go for hillary who they know especially african american women over bernie who they don't know. Gays again probably hillary. Environmentalists and gun controllers are probably up for grab. So bernie's challenge broaden base from anti war liberals and left progressives.

[BeanMusical]

25. Kick and R.

[randys1]

27. With Liz Warren as his VP he would not just win, he would clean up.

[polichick]

29. I agree - hope they're talking about it.

[randys1]

31. Thom said today they couldnt lose if they did, I think he is right. I think, in a weird

way she would bring more attention, voters and mainstream credibility as Bernie suffers, unfairly, from the Socialist tag.

I hope like hell they do talk about it, would piss Hillary off to no end so she has to be prepared for it and have an equally good VP choice, male Latino, etc.

I want them both strong and ready to take the election

I want this to be about which DEM wins as if the con has no chance

[polichick]

36. Maybe Bernie could make a deal with EW...

He serves one term, then she gets a turn.

[randys1]

37. He would break that deal after he finds out how much he loves it, or the opposite

maybe cant wait to give it over

[polichick]

28. True dat - the Dems are at a crossroads. Good video...

Yes, Bernie can beat the corporate choice - but, even if he doesn't, the movement toward gov't of, by and for the people must continue.

[leftofcool]

30. In a word, no!

[DirtyHippyBastard]

32. For Sure

If people hear his message, it will be very hard for HRC to defeat him.

[Tarheel_Dem]

34. If only liberals got to vote, he'd win hands down. The Democratic Party, however? Not so much. nt

[peacebird]

35. Hell yes! The more people see&hear from Bernie, the more they like him!

[ConservativeDemocrat]

38. In the D.U.? Certainly.

In the real world? Not even a smidgen of a chance.

There would have to be a huge collapse of support for Hillary for Bernie to win, and if that happened, one of the more moderate Republicans (backed by billions of dollars) would win the general. But he's good to get ideas out there, and represents the hardline base quite well, so I'm all in favor of his candidacy.

I particularly like the fact that both Hillary and Bernie are keeping it classy, making it a campaign about ideas.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[rock]

39. Of course he can!

However the question is a little green. We really should wait until we have a nationally televised primary debate before we start talking chances.

[glinda]

42. yes

[NAO]

43. Unscientific, but based on the reaction of Jimmy Fallon's audience

Last night Fallon did a Sanders joke...you could hear crickets...nobody even knew who he was.

Fallon followed it up with the line, "he wants to make college free for everyone" and there was huge applause and cheers.

I think that's reflective of the general situation of most voters. They have no idea who Sanders is. They'd agree with him on many of the issues, but without major media near-saturation level exposure they won't even realize there is a candidate who stands for them.

And then there is the likelihood of him being marginalized as an extremist nobody...like what happened to Dennis Kusinich.

I'd like more than anything for him to win, but I'm not setting my heart on it.

It really depends on how much, and what kind of media exposure he gets.

[silenttigersong]

44. Paid posters

Would you voluntarily out yourselves?I wish DU had a registration for paid political operatives .It is frustrating.