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Bernie Sanders Path To Victory — What Will It Take To Win Democratic Nomination?

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 14:26 PST, Apr 24, 2016

Bernie Sanders’ campaign is still alive and strong as supporters continue working to widen a narrow path to victory. Even though Sander’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, still has the delegate lead in the race to win the Democratic nomination, the race isn’t over yet, even if many outlets are trying to wrap it up prematurely.

For starters, Bernie has never conceded a loss as was reported by NBC News when he said during an interview that he admits that there is a “narrow path to victory.” Instead, Sanders proclaimed that his plan was to “fight…through that path. We hope to win.” There is a good reason for Bernie Sanders to stay in the race until the very end because ultimately, he still can win the Democratic nomination and end up the next President of the United States.

For those who keep shaking their heads, remember 2008 when Barack Obama came up from nowhere and ended up taking the nomination from Hillary Clinton. Also, remember that Hillary stayed in the race until the bitter end too. So why is it a bad idea for Bernie to keep his hat in the ring and keep fighting for a win?

Politico pointed out that while half of those they polled thought Bernie Sanders should go ahead and drop out of the race rather than taking it to the convention, this was also how many felt about Clinton in 2008. Ultimately, she ignored that message and stayed in the race until the Democratic nomination was given to Barack Obama.

Although Sanders still trails Hillary Clinton in delegates, she hasn’t secured enough to lock in the nomination and the tides and the ultra-liberal California primary is coming up. Right now, Sanders and Clinton are tied for the state according to many polls, but they also have an open primary, which will allow those registered as independent to vote too. It’s no secret that Bernie Sanders is wildly popular among independents.

There is also still hope for Bernie in Pennsylvania, although many news outlets aren’t quick to admit that. In a huge step to secure the highly coveted Black vote in the race for the Democratic nomination, Bernie earned an endorsement from the oldest African-American newspaper in the United States. The Philadelphia Tribune printed an endorsement for Bernie Sanders in their newspaper last week, just ahead of the Pennsylvania primary. Many of his supporters are hoping this will give Sanders the boost that he needs in a state where a win was looking pretty grim.

As it stands, Hillary Clinton is leading the race for the Democratic nomination with 1,941 delegates compared to Bernie’s 1191. What many fail to recognize is that 513 of Clinton’s delegates are actually superdelegates and can change their vote on a whim. If those superdelegates shift their support to Bernie, then he can actually overtake Hillary and win the nomination. While many question whether that is even possible, it has been happening as several superdelegates have already changed their support to Sanders’ campaign.

So why Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton? As Sanders himself has pointed out, Bernie Sanders versus any of the Republican candidates gives the Democratic ticket a better chance of winning the entire presidential race than Hillary Clinton versus the same group of Republicans. If the superdelegates are going to make their choice on which candidate has a better chance at winning the entire race, Bernie is the one. If Bernie does well in California, there’s a pretty good chance that many of those superdelegates will start switching sides and the race for the Democratic nomination will change drastically, just like it did when Hillary ran against Barack Obama in 2008.

In order for Bernie to win the race for the Democratic nomination, he’ll need to win California by a large margin and close the gap between himself and Hillary Clinton. If he can do that and then move on to do well in Pennsylvania too, there is a pretty good chance that superdelegates will start switching their support to Bernie Sanders.

[Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images]

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