"Today, We Are All Walter Mondale". Democrats learned the wrong lesson from 1984.

[JDPriestly]

75. Personality plays a big role in who wins.

Reagan had a smiling personality. That's why he was successful as a movie star. It certainly wasn't his dramatic acting talent. He was more the guy next door that you love to see in the morning when he walks to his car to go to work.

George H.W. Bush was elected the first time based on Reagan's charm.

Bill Clinton also had a warm, embracing personality. That's why people voted for him.

In contrast, George H. W. Bush had a rather weak, complaining manner, a poor personality. His speech was very odd. People voted for Clinton.

Gore came across as a cold fish, but had the right platform. George W. Bush although really not very intelligent, rather a nasty, crude, hateful and snobbish guy, came across as "someone to have a beer with." The life of the party -- nasty, crude, hateful and snobbish, but nevertheless someone you might want to hang out with at a bar. Bush -- perceived as an approachable guy, took the election. Now, if you remember, the newspaper consortium that counted all the votes allowed internet users to decide which counting method they would have used. They announced their results on September 11, 2001. I remember very well that Gore would have won by the methods I thought were appropriate for counting the votes. Of course, that vote count did not get much attention because of the terror attack. Interesting coincidence. Without question, Gore actually won the popular vote that year.

As a candidate, McCain was a bit of a joke. He came across as weak (like George H.W.Bush but in a different way) and Sarah Palin did him in. She was a joke, strongly disliked by most Americans.

Romney was a Mormon and was a bit of an oddball in the perceptions of a lot of Americans. Also, he was filthy rich at a time and in an era in which filthy rich is not liked that much. Rich is good. Filthy rich -- like buying plants, taking out all the equipment, moving it to China, firing the employees and leaving town, filthy rich, is not popular in America.

Besides, Obama was the perfect campaigner, the perfect candidate for the time. In a multi-racial country, he was not only a candidate who gave hope to all who identified with him based on their race, he was young and laid back and really brilliant. Obama won the love and admiration of America and the world. A Nobel Peace Prize right off the bat? No president will ever top that.

So, in terms of personality, between the two Democratic candidates who are in the lead, I think Sanders is the winner. He comes across as very sincere, intelligent and caring. He's a guy who makes you feel safe because he really cares about you. Hey. He cares about mothers and their babies, seniors on Social Security, union members, students. HE CARES.

And that is what Americans need right now.

As for their platforms, the differences between what Sanders and Clinton say is not really all that great. To us the platforms are very different. But to average Americans who aren't paying the kind of attention to the minutiae of policy, not that much. So it is a matter of personality but also -- the big issue in our primary is trust. And Bernie wins hands down on that. No matter what he is accused of, people are going to trust him more than they do Clinton or any of the Republicans. That is because he presents himself as just human, a person who could make mistakes, so mistakes are not going to take their toll on him.

Sanders focuses on issues, the issues that matter to Americans like taking care of their children, like a really livable wage, like not shipping Americans' jobs overseas, like protecting our democracy from the leveraged buy-out Wall Street types, like making sure that no qualified student misses college because of money, like making sure we all have healthcare even if we just lost our jobs, like trying to reach peace before just marching our troops into some country halfway across the world with no plan for what comes after we march in.

Sanders comes across as very intent on helping others and very disinterested in himself. It isn't some store-bought, phony persona. It's real. It's visceral. People feel it, and they forgive him a lot because they recognize his authenticity and his caring.

There is no candidate running in 2016 who can match Sanders with regard to personality, ideas, presentation, focus and connection with the American people.

With Sanders, it is not a question of being liberal or conservative, socialist or capitalist, it is about being a person who has cared for the American people all his life.

Each presidential campaign in my lifetime has been different.

Adlai Stevenson was the quintessential Third Way, DLC candidate before those terms were invented. He tried to make himself into an FDR Democrat because that was what had sold in previous elections. But the fact was he was a big firm lawyer in with all that New York and relative conservative Democrats stand for. He was a nice guy, totally DLC, mild-mannered and more involved in nasty business like in the Congo than people would like to remember.

Stevenson lost twice. Eisenhower was an extremely strong candidate. A leader. A winner. A pleasant man. Nothing phony except that he was far more powerful and far more interested in intelligence shenanigans than Americans realized.

The perception that only DLC candidates can win???? It depends. Personality, the mood of the country, whose running on the other side.

And there is one last issue: racism. That was the big card that cleared the field for Republicans following LBJ's signing of the various Civil Rights laws.

Surely by now, we have elected our first African-American president. Surely now, racism is not a factor in determining for most Americans what party they vote for.

There was a time when the South voted for Democrats because Southerners liked the populist ideas of the Democrats. That was in FDR's and the post-FDR period.

Bernie may be able to show that a strong populist message can win enough Southern votes to put Democrats over the top again.

We shall see.

That's what this primary is about.