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("Mr. Sanders argued that he should become the nominee at the convention
with a plurality of delegates, to reflect the will of voters, and that
denying him the nomination would enrage his supporters and split the
party for years to come." Is that so? What will they do if Sanders ends
up backing the candidate who a brokered convention produces, like
Sherrod Brown who is cited in the article? Will they be enraged at him?
Will they put pressure on Sanders to run as an independent? That would
be the logical response to such an undemocratic act but I am afraid that
Sanders and most of his supporters would view starting a new party as
"unrealistic". As for me, I say three cheers for being unrealistic.)
NY Times, Feb. 28, 2020
Democratic Leaders Willing to Risk Party Damage to Stop Bernie Sanders
By Lisa Lerer and Reid J. Epstein
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the
minority leader, hear constant warnings from allies about congressional
losses in November if the party nominates Bernie Sanders for president.
Democratic House members share their Sanders fears on text-messaging
chains. Bill Clinton, in calls with old friends, vents about the party
getting wiped out in the general election.
And officials in the national and state parties are increasingly anxious
about splintered primaries on Super Tuesday and beyond, where the
liberal Mr. Sanders, of Vermont, edges out moderate candidates who
collectively win more votes.
Dozens of interviews with Democratic establishment leaders this week
show that they are not just worried about Mr. Sanders’s candidacy, but
are also willing to risk intraparty damage to stop his nomination at the
national convention in July if they get the chance. Since Mr. Sanders’s
victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, The Times has interviewed 93
party officials — all of them superdelegates, who could have a say on
the nominee at the convention — and found overwhelming opposition to
handing the Vermont senator the nomination if he arrived with the most
delegates but fell short of a majority.
Such a situation may result in a brokered convention, a messy political
battle the likes of which Democrats have not seen since 1952, when the
nominee was Adlai Stevenson.
“We’re way, way, way past the day where party leaders can determine an
outcome here, but I think there’s a vibrant conversation about whether
there is anything that can be done,” said Jim Himes, a Connecticut
congressman and superdelegate, who believe the nominee should have a
majority of delegates.
From California to the Carolinas, and North Dakota to Ohio, the party
leaders say they worry that Mr. Sanders, a democratic socialist with
passionate but limited support so far, will lose to President Trump, and
drag down moderate House and Senate candidates in swing states with his
left-wing agenda of “Medicare for all” and free four-year public college.
Mr. Sanders and his advisers insist that the opposite is true — that his
ideas will generate huge excitement among young and working-class
voters, and lead to record turnout. Such hopes have yet to be borne out
in nominating contests so far.
Jay Jacobs, the New York State Democratic Party chairman and a
superdelegate, echoing many others interviewed, said that superdelegates
should choose a nominee they believed had the best chance of defeating
Mr. Trump if no candidate wins a majority of delegates during the
primaries. Mr. Sanders argued that he should become the nominee at the
convention with a plurality of delegates, to reflect the will of voters,
and that denying him the nomination would enrage his supporters and
split the party for years to come.
“Bernie wants to redefine the rules and just say he just needs a
plurality,” Mr. Jacobs said. “I don’t think we buy that. I don’t think
the mainstream of the Democratic Party buys that. If he doesn’t have a
majority, it stands to reason that he may not become the nominee.”
This article is based on interviews with the 93 superdelegates, out of
771 total, as well as party strategists and aides to senior Democrats
about the thinking of party leaders. A vast majority of those
superdelegates — whose ranks include federal elected officials, former
presidents and vice presidents and D.N.C. members — predicted that no
candidate would clinch the nomination during the primaries, and that
there would be a brokered convention fight in July to choose a nominee.
In a reflection of the establishment’s wariness about Mr. Sanders, only
nine of the 93 superdelegates interviewed said that Mr. Sanders should
become the nominee purely
