Sanders booed by House Democrats

[Jim Lane]

319. "The party is united" doesn't mean that all the votes are locked up.

You and I are in agreement that most of Bernie's supporters will vote for Clinton, but some won't. Where we differ is that you seem to think those lines are cast in stone. I think there's a group in the middle that hasn't decided yet, plus some people in each camp who might yet change their minds, depending on what happens.

Obviously, no one could say that Clinton will get the votes of all of Bernie's supporters or of none of them, depending on whether she or the party does action X. Nevertheless, it's a legitimate subject for discussion to analyze the choices that will influence the decisions that some of those voters make.

For example, trade agreements are an important issue to many people. It's clear that Trump will tout his opposition to agreements that Clinton has in the past supported. There are steps that Clinton and the party could take on this subject. Will the platform oppose TPP? Will it at least oppose any plan for a lame-duck vote that would let legislators vote in favor of what big business wants without having to answer for it in the 2016 campaign? Will Clinton go beyond making a tepid statement of opposition and intensely lobby her allies in Congress to reject the TPP? The answers to these questions will affect how (or whether) some of Bernie's supporters vote. Of course, it's also true, and probably more important, that strong opposition to the TPP would blunt Trump's appeal to the Rust Belt workers whom he needs to flip states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.