2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: For people calling Hillary a "weak" candidate... [View all]karynnj
(59,504 posts)This would be like if last year's winner played its own minor team -- and it was not a complete blow out. In general, the people MOST worried about this are people who are not impressed by Bernie. The less impressed by Bernie you are, the more troubling it may be that she has not already put this away.
Consider that Al Gore, in a similar position of having the bulk of the establishment behind him, won EVERY state against Senator Bradley, who, on paper, was a tougher opponent than Sanders. Kerry, with less media support than Dean, Edwards and Clark and fewer superdelegates than Dean pre Iowa, also had gained enough pledged delegates to win by this time. He lost only 4 states, 2 to favorite sons after they were out of the race.
Given these comparisons, people have to accept one of two things:
1) Bernie Sanders is a strong opponent and has run a surprisingly powerful campaign.
OR
2) Hillary Clinton, given her support, has run a pretty mediocre campaign, but her inherent strengths - her resume, her name recognition and more party support than any non-incumbent President in my life time - are why she is winning IN SPITE OF HER CAMPAIGN.
It is possible that it is a combination of the two plus this year being very anti establishment, but given that she likely will be our nominee, it is a good idea for Hillary Clinton to take a very thoughtful look at her campaign to see what she can change to make herself a better candidate. Our nominee will have the advantage of running against likely the weakest Republican nominee in our lifetime - both Trump and Cruz are extreme candidates.