Clinton still 'disappointed' Sanders held off on endorsing her in 2016

[karynnj]

257. He endorsed her before her convention but after all the primaries played out

I think everyone here understands the time frame, but has a differing definition of when the general election starts.

Technically - as in when you could spend primary funds when candidates took funding it started the moment they accepted the nomination at their convention. However, I agree that your saying it was post primary is truer in terms of what the focus was. The idea that the general election starts when they accept the nomination is rooted in a history when that was when you were for sure the nominee. ( The NYC broadcast museum has footage of the JFK 1960 convention - he did not come in as the nominee, it was still up in the air.)

However, I think HRC is wrong that Sanders hurt her. He endorsed her 2 weeks before the convention and held the vast majority of Sanders voters behind her even when the DNC emails were hacked and came out in a weaponized way. Donna Brazille was forced to resign because emails were put out to show the DNC strongly favored HRC. No surprise - and not nefarious. The vast majority of party officials and DNC officials were behind her. Yet, this was a time where his strong speech was needed to keep his supporters from taking the bait.

One sign that this worked is that only about 10% of the Sanders primary voters did not vote for HRC, while about 25% of HRC voters did not vote for Obama. BOTH of them attacked the winner as they ran in the primaries - and, to some degree, it is hard not to say that HRC saying that she AND JOHN McCAIN were ready on day 1 to take a 3 am call, but Obama wasn't is worse than any attack by Sanders on HRC.