General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: California: 4 Republican House seats running UNopposed [View all]HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Independants outnumber both Dems and Reps here. The remaining Democrats are majority DLC. The main power groups within the party are the trial lawyers, who provide funding (in addition to the corporate funding); teachers union, who provide boots on the ground; and African Americans, who want to maintain connections to political power, provide a solid voting bloc, but really don't get anything in return. Operating outside the party are several progressive groups, namely Progressive Democrats of America (currently organizing on behalf of Sanders), but they are severely budget-limited, ignored by media, and have limited success.
The issue here is exactly what Sanders is preaching about. The Democratic Party pays lip service to opposing Republicans, but in general serve the same corporate masters, and primarily just want to preserve their spots at the corporate feed trough. It's a pretty depressing situation.
BTW, our primary is in a month. It's a closed primary, registered Democrats only. Although a good number of Indies and new voters have registered Dem in order to vote for Sanders (actual #s not released yet), I expect the math still favors Clinton to win Florida by a good margin. A huge youth turnout could make it competitive, we'll see.