‘Joementum’ Unabated With Wins In Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi

Amid a backdrop of coronavirus fears, erratic market behavior and President Donald Trump’s regularly scheduled chaos, former Vice President Joe Biden’s netted at least three of the six states up for grabs Tuesday over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and his promise of social revolution.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1296263
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Bernie has earned the space to make his decision what to do next. But make no mistake, Michigan was a crushing blow to his campaign, and it won’t get any easier for him. I don’t believe there’s a path for him to the nomination anymore.

Considering he won’t be able to hold rallies over the next few weeks, at least, due to the Coronavirus, it deprives him of a chance to generate momentum, though I don’t think it would ultimately make a difference.

This is probably his last run for President and he’s got to come to terms with that. But the overriding goal has always been to beat Donald Trump. Hell, I’d vote for a ham sandwich if that was our nominee. I think Bernie will realize that sooner rather than later, and suspend his campaign, because it’s vital we unify the Party.

Let me add, I don’t think Party leaders should be calling on him to drop out. They should allow Bernie to exit on his terms. At least for now.

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This showed up on Democratic Underground:

Don Winslow New book BROKEN on sale APRIL 7

@donwinslow
I’ve just been informed by someone who would DEFINITELY know that
will announce that he will suspend his campaign on Wednesday or Thursday.
9:10 PM · Mar 10, 2020·Twitter Web Client

Don’t know how true this is but I will keep an eye out for updates. Of course it could be just a rumor so BS people-chill.

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“Shut Up Donald”

Biden 2020 campaign slogan and bumper sticker

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IMO, the real story is washington state.

Right now, with 67% of the vote it, both Biden and Sanders are hovering just under 33%. In other words, over one third of Washington State voters expressed their dissastisfaction with the choices they’ve been left with.

Granted that voting started on Feb 21… before the Nevada and SC contests. But even so, the fact that over one third of voters wanted someone other than Bernie or Biden says a lot.

I prefer this approach. BUT… I was highly disappointed in Bernie in 2016 with how he exited. I think Dem leadership is yelling for him to exit too damn early, give the man time to digest this blow. But… if he delays much longer than after next Tuesdays results… yeah, yell.

I was not anti-Bernie in 2016. However, I lost trust in him with how he chose to exit that race. A lot. His campaigning for others in 2016 did not earn it back, he HAD to do that if he ever wanted to run again, like say in 2020.

For me Bernie never earned back the respect he lost in my mind in 2016, but I would not hesitate a heartbeat to vote for him if he somehow gets the nomination.

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It’s over. Point.

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Yeah, it says the field was divided when their was early voting… duh?

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I agree! The problem is that Bernie is not a Democrat, and he and his followers have made it incredibly clear that the Party is the enemy. He is also an incredibly sore loser, so I’m sure that so long as he has the money, he will take this to the convention and demand a vote–again.

However, given that the so-called Sanders Coalition has fallen apart–even The Worker has spurned him!–it really will be difficult to have anything approaching a rationale other than sheer egotism. Also, he will start to look rather loony, appearing on talk shows and yammering on about the illegitimacy of votes cast for anyone not named Bernie Sanders.

I mean, dude, slamming democracy just isn’t a good look. You lost because people decided they wanted someone else, not because the fix was in in every single state except…the ones you happened to win. Weird, that.

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since we don’t know when people voted, we don’t know how many of these people voted for someone other than Bernie or Biden since South Carolina/super tuesday.

But if we assume that most of the votes for not Bernie/Biden were cast before then, it means that an even larger percentage of voters wanted someone other than these two.

Or, if we assume that a substantial number of these non-bernie/biden votes were cast since the time that other candidates withdrew, it means that a substantial number of people were so dissatisfied with the current choice they decided to provide “protest” votes.

either way, its pretty clear that people are not happy with the choice they’ve got right now.

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the party (Democratic voters) is not the enemy – the party establishment that is beholden to fat cat and cares more about protecting incumbents than passing legislation that will help people are the enemy.

And its the party establishment that lies about what Sanders is saying in order to preserve their own positions and power – and non-thinking dupes who happily repeat those lies.

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And yet… turnout is high. You keep trying to shit on things, but we will defeat drump this time.

Edit: The We obviously doesn’t include you as your supporting drump.

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I like Sanders on policy but without control of the Senate it matters not what he thinks about any subject. 23 Republican Senators need to be thrown out. If Sanders could deliver 10, he’d be Democrat of the Century and I guarantee President Biden would sign whatever progressive legislation that Senate sent across his desk.

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Drink.

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It amazes me how many Senators, who are normally completely full of themselves and their Senate prerogatives, appear to suddenly forget how vital the Senate is while running for President. Not just Sanders, but Warren, Booker, Harris and even Biden to an extent. I’d expect them to understand way more than their campaigns reflected, that Majority Leader Moscow Mitch would allow exactly none of their so-called agendas to pass or even receive a vote.

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It’s almost as if…Iowa and New Hampshire aren’t representative of the rest of America and campaigns that spend all their energy on those two states have trouble competing everywhere else. It’s all based on the snowball theory of inevitability: Win the first two races and everyone else falls in line, because it’s still the 80’s and nothing ever changes.

And of course, Bernie got 26% in both Iowa and New Hampshire and he’s now doing slightly better. His numbers haven’t gotten worse. It’s that all the Non-Bernies consolidated to one candidate. And the real problem is that the media pretends every race is winner-takes-all and announces who “won” each state. But 52% of Michigan beats 26% of Iowa and New Hampshire combined, no matter what the pundits say.

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I’m in Washington and mailed my vote for Warren over the weekend. I figured, what the hell, this thing is over anyway, Biden’s got this, Warren should get another vote. She deserves it. It’s not that complicated.

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This wasnt a comeback. That’s like calling it a comeback if one team scored a goal in the first 5 minutes and then gets routed.

This was a total and complete indictment of IA and NH being early litmus tests.

Enough is enough. Nothing was stolen here. It was already baked into the cake and we just hadn’t gotten to those bites yet because there was too much fondant on top.

Can you tell I watch too much foodnetwork?

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Agree. I think it wouldn’t hurt them to stop by and support Senate (and downballot) candidates when they went to campaign in a state, or at least send some tweets to support candidates occasionally. Alas, Gillibrand is the only one I know who’s been working hard to help elect new senators (even when she was still running). Schatz, Murphy and Harris sometimes post some donation info too.

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It was definitely not a good night for the Bern. Time to bow-out and pivot towards statesman. Otherwise, he will have his ass handed to him on March 17.

Michigan was a bust. FL, IL, OH and OH will be a slaughter.

Bernie, step away and protect your cause as well as your dignity.

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