Bernie Sanders can’t get to the 2,383 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. It’s impossible. In order to get from his current 1,444 delegates to the necessary 2,383, Sanders would need to secure more than 100 percent of the remaining delegates up for grabs, and that’s math that just doesn’t fly. However, despite Bernie Sanders not having a chance of securing enough delegates to win his party’s nomination outright, his aides still think he has a chance to make it to theWhite House. Bernie’s path to presidential victory in 2016 is getting increasingly rocky, though, and at this point would require blocking Hillary Clinton from reaching the 2,383 delegates required to win the Democratic nomination outright.
If Bernie Sanders can prevent Hillary from reaching 2,383, the pair can battle it out at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer and fight over the party’s superdelegates, who have overwhelmingly vowed to support Clinton in the presidential race.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager dismissed concerns about the substantial hurdle Sanders is now facing.
“The truth is, no one is going to the convention with the requisite number of pledged delegates to win. The superdelegates are going to decide this race.”
Stealing Hillary Clinton’s superdelegates is literally the only hope that Bernie Sanders has left of reaching the White House, and the Sanders campaign has promised to keep battling until the convention in Philadelphia. Of course, if Clinton manages to get to 2,383 delegates before the Democratic National Convention, all Sanders’ hopes will be dashed. As of now, though, Bernie Sanders and crew are hoping, praying, and struggling to make sure that Clinton reaches the Philadelphia convention in the same boat as Sanders.
Because Bernie Sanders could potentially get enough delegates to keep Clinton from locking down the Democratic nomination, something that would throw a wrench in the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle.
When you look at the numbers, it appears that Clinton has the nomination in the bag. She’s only 165 delegates away from securing her party’s nomination. However, her delegate count includes Democratic superdelegates. Without superdelegates, Hillary is still 678 delegates away from clinching the nomination.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign has been pledging for months to strip as many superdelegates away from Clinton as possible, but so far that plan doesn’t seem to be yielding any results.
Ironically, before Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager announced Wednesday that the Sanders campaign would be striving for a convention fight, all talk of a convention battle had centered around Republican presidential candidates. However, with Ted Cruz and John Kasich both dropping out of the Republican race, the American people don’t have to concern themselves with a brokered Republican convention.
Now they just have to worry about a battle at the Democratic National Convention with Clinton and Bernie Sanders both stopping at nothing to reach that magic number.
Even an anonymous Bernie Sanders aide couldn’t help but talk about the political irony.
“So who’s going to have a contested convention now?”
In the wake of the disappointing end to Ted Cruz’s campaign, which floundered and ultimately failed on Tuesday following a brutal and devastating loss in Indiana, Bernie Sanders’ bid for the White House seemed to be rejuvenated. Why? Because Bernie pulled off an unexpected win in Indiana the same night.
Many political pundits thought that Indiana might be the end of the road for Bernie Sanders. His surprise victory in the state followed a string of bitter losses and news that Bernie’s campaign had laid off over 200 staff members.
Even Republican front-runner and presumptive nominee Donald Trump weighed in on Bernie Sanders’ campaign struggles.
Bernie Sanders has been treated terribly by the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise. He should show them, and run as an Independent!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2016
For his part, Donald Trump has spent months flip-flopping on whether or not he would run as an Independent if he didn’t get the Republican nomination, calling the Republican system “corrupt” and “rigged.”
Of course, if Bernie Sanders were to run as an Independent in the general election, it would likely split the Democratic vote and hand the White House to Trump. You can’t blame a guy for trying.
As for Bernie Sanders actually running as an Independent, there has been no indication that he has any plans to do so. He’s a shrewd politician, and he doesn’t want to hand the election to Trump on a silver platter.
What do you think? Is Bernie Sanders right to stick with it until the end or is he just prolonging the inevitable?
[Image Courtesy Of John Sommers II/Getty Images]
