Why was Sanders to be blamed for her loss. He did what she asked; he endorsed her and made many campaign speeches for her advocating that we must elect HRC. I'm sure her campaign vetted all his speeches. What more did they want? If they thought Sanders was more a detriment, the campaign should have used him minimally if at all.
I do agree that many Sanders followers did not follow his lead. However a good chunk of those supporters did not identify with the Democratic Party. Rather they were independents and dare I say it Republicans he attracted to his populist economic justice campaign. Unless Hillary could give them a reason to vote for her they would vote for someone else or not vote at all. That was the great strength of Sanders - his ability to attack new voters as well as some stray Republicans and Independents. But since he wasn't part of the ticket it was for HRC and Time Caine to make seal the deal. I do think the vast majority of the Democrats who supported Sanders made the transition to HRC in the general.
IMO, the general election campaign saw many mistakes by the party - their rush to the middle and their courting of suburban Republicans. I do not fault them, if it worked it would have been brilliant. But again, given a choice between a REAL Republican and a Democrat acting like one, they will choose the real Republican. And probably the one thing HRC could not avoid, the populace was looking for a "outsider" and the Clintons are nothing if not very inside the Party. The three critical rust belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania was loss due to an under performance by the party compared to turnout in 2012. I can't even remember her campaigning in those states. She may have, but it seems the focus of the campaign was elsewhere.
I supported HRC. I do agree with her supporters that she was very likely the most well qualified person to run for the presidency in my lifetime. But she couldn't sell herself to the populace. Maybe in another time and place her campaign may have caught fire, but it wasn't 2016.
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