POLL: If they gave the nomination to Biden, should Bernie run as an independent?

[thesquanderer]

34. re: "the GOP establishment COULD run a 3, 4, 6, 7 or so state targeted campaign"

It's an interesting exercise to think about which states should be targeted.

For a 3 person race (Clinton, Trump, and an alternative Republican), I discussed a possible 5-state scenario here. It is based on letting Trump get the states he'll likely get regardless (which is not enough to hit 270), and having the alternative Republican target Hillary states that are not a lock for her, as being potentially the easiest way to force the election into the Republican House.

But if we switch to a 4-person race (Biden, Trump, alternative Republican, and Sanders), the targeted states would shift. Sanders would have the best shot at the blue and blue-leaning states where he beat Hillary in the primaries, and the alternative GOP candidate would have the best shot at red and red-leaning states where Trump lost his primary. Since the House can only choose from the top 3 candidates, Sanders' primary goal might be to merely beat the alternative GOP candidate in order to make the final cut.

Still, if the House can choose among Trump, Biden, and Sanders, I rather doubt Sanders gets the nod. I think they might actually choose Biden over Trump, though.

Which actually led me to a different interesting scenario. Posted at http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511932910