Bernie doesn't know it, but he's playing in a Super Bowl — the California Democratic primary, where it doesn’t matter who wins because the league office has already determined who the champion will be. And that’s Hillary Clinton.
Bernie could win every delegate in the state, all 548, and he would still be behind Hillary 2,287 to 1,996: A difference of 291 delegates.
Hillary is ahead not because she’s winning primaries, but because she’s winning in the VIP lounge. She leads Bernie 537 to 42 among superdelegates, the party insiders who are supposed to prevent unelectable fanatics like Bernie from winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
And that’s exactly what the Super Delegates are doing. Problem solved!
Without superdelegates the count would be Hillary 1,768 to Bernie’s 1,497 a much smaller margin of 271 that could be closed further with a good showing in the formerly Golden State.
Superdelegates are a reform that followed in the wake of the insurgent George McGovern campaign in 1972. McGovern beat the establishment candidate, Edmund Muskie, another strong Democrat, Henry Jackson and a populist bigot, George Wallace. His “Children’s Crusade” then entered the general election and he lost every state except Massachusetts.
George also carried that hotbed big government, Washington, D.C., but that’s hardly a surprise.
After that shellacking superdelegates were added to the nomination contest to make sure an ideology–driven insurgent never wins again. And than means you, Bernie.
The only reason Hillary is campaigning in California in the first place is she want’s to get as far away as possible from the FBI — Guam, anyone? — and she would prefer not to end the primary season with a loss in the most populous state in the nation.
That’s why she’s sitting on her lead (and it’s screaming for someone to get her off). By the time of the June 7 primary she will have been maintaining debate silence for almost three months.
How an unlikable candidate figures avoiding a debate with an opponent who is already credible and well–know helps her is anyone’s guess. But that is the strategy.
Sitting on your lead worked so well for Mitt Romney, why shouldn’t Hillary try it?
Besides, debating in public isn’t exactly Hillary’s forte. She does better in back rooms and corporate headquarters where no one contradicts her and it’s much easier to pick up the check.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.