Why Bernie Sanders has absolutely nothing to lose by staying in the presidential race

[w4rma]

Source: The Washington Post | The Fix

To those grumblers I would say two things: (1) It makes no sense for Sanders to get out of the race right now, and (2) You have no way of getting him out anyway.

Remember that most politicians drop out of races because they run out of money and/or they are looking to their political future and want to make sure they leave a good impression with party leaders. "He ran a good race — and got out when he should have," is the sort of approving sentiment I've had expressed to me myriad times by members of both parties' political establishment over the years about a rising star pol.

Here's the thing with Sanders: He's never been a Democrat before. Yes, he caucuses with Democrats in the Senate. Yes, he ran (and is running) for president as a Democrat. But, Sanders isn't someone who has ever been part of the Democratic party apparatus. He's not someone who is terribly worried about what the party could (or would) do to him if he stays in the presidential race longer than "they" see fit. And, at 74, it's very unlikely Sanders has an eye on 2020 or 2024 to make a repeat run for president.

In short, none of the levers that the party typically pushes to get unwanted candidates out of races works on Sanders. Can you imagine if in a closely divided Senate in 2017, Majority Leader/Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Sanders couldn't caucus with Democrats anymore because he didn't endorse Clinton at the right time? No, you can't imagine it because it would literally never happen. Or how about if Schumer stripped Sanders of his committee assignments or even pushed him off one of the marquee committees on which he currently sits? Sanders — and the millions of people who support him — would instantly go bananas. And, because of Sanders's national profile, it would be a huge national story.

Less talked about, but no less important is the fact that the Justice Department is still investigating Clinton's decision to use a private email server to exclusively handle her electronic communication during her time as secretary of state. While the expectation has been for months that an announcement of the investigation's finding was coming within days, no word has come yet.

If you are Sanders — and you know there's not a whole hell of a lot that the Democratic Party can do to actually hurt you — why not stay in the race for a while longer just in case the FBI either indicts Clinton or severely reprimands her? Neither seems likely. (Note: I am not a lawyer!) But, if you have been actively running for president for much of the past 18 months, why would you end your candidacy now with an investigation involving your opponent still ongoing?

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/17/why-bernie-sanders-has-absolutely-nothing-to-lose-by-staying-in-the-presidential-race/

[ucrdem]

1. Probably but staying in would end his formal association with the D party.

He can do whatever he wants as an Indie but those filing deadlines are coming thick and fast and require thousands of verified signatures per state which requires a credible party, platform, ground operation etc. IOW that ship has sailed.

So what would he keep running for?

[w4rma]

2. Your statement leaves the impression that you didn't read the article.

Not past the headline, at least.

[ucrdem]

5. I pointed this out a year ago.

The DNC has no way of compelling him to do or not do anything, including running on a 3rd party ticket. Of course, he won't, we all know that, he said so, etc. But just the same there's absolutely nothing stopping him. Fortunately it no longer makes any difference what he does, but it was naive to think it wouldn't come to this.

[w4rma]

6. Spoken like a true neoliberal who wants to marginalize progressives as much as possible. (nt)

[ucrdem]

8. I've seen one or two "peoples" campaigns that were anything but.

There's nothing new under the sun I guess.

[w4rma]

9. Cryptic. (nt)

[SFnomad]

12. Oh puh-leeze, cut the crap. You people have a persecution complex down cold n/t

[w4rma]

16. My interpretation of the poster's words are accurate. And the poster didn't disagree. (nt)

[ucrdem]

17. I generally don't disagree with meaningless nonsequiturs, no. nt

[w4rma]

21. I don't think you know what the meaning of "meaningless" is, nor "non-sequitur". (nt)

[question everything]

19. Right. But the DNC better not accept his "representatives" to the platform convention

and not accept any of his conditions, rather, blackmail.

[eastwestdem]

3. If he's waiting around 'just in case', why doesn't he just suspend...then he can always reenter if

needed. And that way the taxpayers wouldn't have to continue to pay for his Secret Service detail...and he would save money by not having to pay his campaign staff.

[RobertEarl]

4. Go back and edit with this included

Note to Jury: This is a verbatim copy of the title and an excerpt of a source we use all the time at DU. This is not the opinion of the op.

----------------------------END
My comment:
They got nothing on Bernie. But millions of people have got a lot riding on Bernie staying in.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

7. You had me at #1

I think he's not hurting but helping.

[840high]

10. yep +10

[spud_demon]

11. I wonder what happened in Tuesday night's meeting

It must not have been very good.

Backing into the nomination due to an improbable indictment is not the way I saw the revolution happening. And it wouldn't play out that way. Even if she were somehow instantly incarcerated and barred from future office, her delegates would nominate a member of her machine rather than Sanders.

I trust Bernie's judgement on keeping the campaign going for now. He promised not to run if he wasn't the Dem nominee, but his ideas still need to be kept in the public eye.

[k8conant]

13. Clinton campaign continued after backing Obama (so much for "conceding")

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=2200622

[pat_k]

14. Upside + No Downside = Right Decision

Not only is there no downside, there is an upside. The course he is taking is likely to have both long and short term benefits. I think it's the best way...

1) to maximize the chances that the people he inspired to get active, stay active into the future, and

2) to maximize the number of his supporters who will come out for Clinton, and other Democrats, in Nov.

Both very good things.

But maybe he’s on the right track. If he can drive a hard bargain at the convention, maybe he can help smooth the path to unity by showing his supporters that he’s won concessions. He may have more credibility with his supporters when he eventually comes around to supporting Clinton. He’s not the typical politician — in many ways. He may never run again (he’ll be 78 in 2020). So why not drive a hard bargain?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/upshot/bernie-sanders-and-the-terms-of-surrender.html

[creeksneakers2]

15. He has something to gain from good relations

with establishment Democrats. Bernie seems to want to form a movement. Asking his supporters to run for office is evidence of that. For the movement to be effective, he'll have to get along with establishment Democrats. Dividing the party would lead to both sides losing.

[ucrdem]

20. Does he mention anywhere that he wants them to run as Dems or get involved in Dem organizing?

Because that's not what I'm hearing.

[creeksneakers2]

23. Not that I can find

I expect that the whole thing will be more centered on issues than parties.

[ucrdem]

24. To me it looks for all the world like he's planning a 3rd party run.

He seems to be collecting signatures every which way with nary a mention of Democrats and that either spells doomed-to-crash-and-burn 3rd party run or he's launching his own megachurch:

https://berniesanders.com/stream/

[jamese777]

18. An Opposing View

From Bloomberg News:
Sanders’ Long Refusal to Endorse Clinton Hurts His Leverage

Clinton has moved on to the general election while Sanders is working to push a progressive agenda on the Democratic Party

Even with his path to the Democratic presidential nomination rapidly disappearing, Bernie Sanders couldn't bring himself to publicly accept defeat. Along the way, he overplayed his hand and squandered the political capital he'll need to force policy and procedural reforms on the Democratic Party, according to allies and party strategists.
“We're already way past the maximum point of leverage that he and his movement built up. It's definitely dissipating every day,” said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist and veteran of presidential campaigns.
Trippi put the high point of Sanders' clout at April 9, after he won seven straight contests ending with Wyoming. But he lost seven of the last nine contests, walloped by 58 points in the District of Columbia, which held the final primary of the season on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton already had locked up the nomination with a decisive victory in California a week earlier, and some of the highest-profile Sanders supporters—including Senator Jeff Merkley, Representative Raul Grijalva, and the liberal activist group MoveOn—are now lining up behind her.

Sanders on Thursday night came closer that he ever has to acknowledging Clinton as the presumptive Democratic nominee, telling supporters he was ready to take on a role in trying to defeat Republican Donald Trump in November.
“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly,” Sanders, 74, said during a live-streamed address to supporters. “And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.”
But he made no mention of rallying his supporters behind Clinton or releasing the delegates he's amassed over the long campaign. He said he and Clinton have “strong disagreements on some very important issues” even though they are close on others. Sanders also said he wanted to “transform” the party to ensure it focuses on the topics that were the foundation of his campaign for the nomination.
Sanders is still an “active candidate for president,” campaign manager Jeff Weaver said on MSNBC on Friday.

Party Unity
Representative Peter Welch, a fellow Vermonter who endorsed Sanders in February, fretted that continuing his campaign could be counterproductive to Sanders' goal of securing policy and procedural commitments.

Some believe—and it appears this is Bernie's view—that the longer he stays in, the more effective he'll be in negotiating. My view is that the sooner we get unified the better,” Welch said on Thursday before Sanders spoke. “Bernie doesn't give up any leverage by acknowledging explicitly that Hillary will be the nominee.”
Jim Manley, a former communications strategist for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, said Sanders risks “marginalizing” himself, both in the campaign and upon returning to the Senate, if he doesn't accept that he has lost.
“He risks throwing it all away if he doesn't quickly endorse Hillary Clinton,” Manley said. “He still thinks he's got a lot of leverage and every day that goes by he's losing it. They might've been more inclined to take some of his concerns more seriously than maybe they need to now.”
EXCERPTED From a Longer Article
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-17/sanders-long-refusal-to-endorse-clinton-hurts-his-leverage

[BainsBane]

22. There is no more race

The primaries are over. that is what makes this so absurd. At this point, he's squandered any opportunity to influence a potential Clinton presidency. It matters less and less what he does. The rest of country is moving on to the GE, trying to do something about assault weapons, while Bernie remains focused on Bernie.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

25. It depends on whether you think Clinton would make a better president than Trump.

By staying in the race, and keeping the bitterness he created alive and delaying the start of the healing process, Sanders is making it more likely that the next president of the USA will be Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton.

If you don't think that matters, there's no reason for him not to stay in the race.

[demwing]

26. Just a thought...Bernie promised to not run as a 3rd Party candidate

But he never promised to not create a third party alternative to the Dems

[w4rma]

27. I think that depends on how the negotiations turn out. Hopefully, Hillary doesn't dig in like many

of her neoliberal surrogates are doing.

[merrily]

28. IIRC, he promised he would not run "as a spoiler."

That may or may not be the same as promising not to run unless he could run as the Dem nominee.

That said, I don't think he will run unless he is the Dem nominee.

[Squinch]

29. He is marginalizing himself and risks becoming a sad joke. If he had endorsed on the Obama/Warren

endorsement day, he would have positioned himself as a leader of the Democratic party, and he would have put himself in a position to influence policy.

Now he is just a guy hanging onto a failed campaign with his fingernails.

[bigwillq]

30. Kick (nt)