Check in if you sincerely believe that Bernie can win.

[SheilaT]

229. No. In this country an independent cannot possibly win.

Plus, Bernie would only take votes from whoever would then be the Democratic nominee, pretty much guaranteeing the Republican would win.

It's probably not the best system out there, but our two-party system (all of the many small other parties really don't count and have no impact on elections in this country) is here to stay. It's the only game we have, and Bernie, while an independent, is very closely allied with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. He has always caucused with them. He wins elections as in independent in Vermont because it's a very small state and he is well known to the voters. To win a national election a candidate must be allied with one or the other of the two parties.

If he wins the nomination, he will have the might of the Democratic Party behind him. As an independent he'd have nothing like that to help him out. He would also be unable to campaign alongside Democrats also running for election, because the actual Democratic nominee would be doing that.

Running as an independent is a romantic notion, but not remotely practical.