Bernie Sanders Can Win the Iowa Caucus

[Playinghardball]

Let me be the first commentator to state explicitly what many Democratic insiders fear and many of the most progressive activists in the party yearn for: There is a very real prospect that Senator Bernie Sanders wins an outright victory in the Iowa caucus and pulls off one of the most stunning upsets in modern political history.

At this moment I would put the odds that Mr. Sanders upsets Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus at nearly 40 percent. As someone who can fairly be called a Democratic insider myself, I can report that some of the smartest Democratic strategists in national politics privately believe this but will not publicly state it. I just did.

To fully understand the powerful forces at work within the Democratic Party and national politics, and why Bernie Sanders has suddenly vaulted to a clear second place in the race for the Democratic nomination, lets briefly consider political events in the three days that began last Friday and ended on Sunday.

First, on Friday, President Obama was rebuked by Democrats in the House of Representatives over the fast track trade legislation which led—at least for now—to the bill being defeated in the House.

Then, on Saturday, Hillary Clinton made a major speech in New York in which she echoed many of the themes of progressive populist Democrats while appearing to wrap herself around the political mantle of President Obama with language so compelling it gave credence to the Republican charge that she is running for the third Obama term. I would emphasize—and this is important—that while Clinton was embracing Obama, progressives remember that not long ago Obama was personally and politically insulting prominent progressives such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which I have previously written about in the Observer.

Next, on Sunday, Mr. Sanders and Ms. Clinton were both campaigning in Iowa, where he again aggressively opposed the trade bill and she implied that she would be a stronger trade negotiator than the president but again took no position on the trade bill.


Read more at http://observer.com/2015/06/bernie-sanders-can-win-the-iowa-caucus/#ixzz3dAHhL82s

[Wilms]

1. ^

[Motown_Johnny]

2. That would be huge.

I expect him to win New Hampshire. If he wins Iowa too he could be so far out front early that HRC may not recover.

It is still way to early to be doing this, but the idea of Iowa going to Sen. Sanders is game changing.