No death blow tonight

[HassleCat]

It appears Clinton will eke out a close victory over Sanders. Probably. But the close finish casts doubt on the inevitable-ness of the Clinton path to the presidency. She looks vulnerable. Going into this thing, she had lock on the nomination. Now she has to fight for it, and that means going after Sanders much more aggressively, using negative campaign ads. This will affect her general election campaign somehow, but how? Will voters look at her more unfavorably? Beating up on poor old Bernie Sanders may not go down well, and the Clinton campaign will look for a way to hurt Sanders without appearing to mirror the right wing BS about socialists, communists, etc. That's difficult because Clinton, so far, has portrayed Sanders as too far left. Once again, our favored candidate is trying to position herself not too far left and not too far right. It usually works, but it gets trickier each election for our candidate to be like the Republicans, but not too much like them.

[Joe the Revelator]

1. Still a lot of outstanding caucus sites in 'Bernie Country'

[brooklynite]

2. First, nobody on the Clinton side has been saying "inevitable"...

...but second, Sanders is still not showing any strength outside of NH, and we'll quickly move on to States more favorable to Clinton

[cali]

6. Just watch.

[HassleCat]

13. Oh, I didn't realize Iowa was the same as New Hampshire. My bad. (eom)

[morningfog]

17. Not as quickly as you'd like.

[uponit7771]

19. +1, SC et al will speak to Sanders viability louder than IA or NH... Sanders weakness isn't

... in 99% white Iowa and NH

[DanTex]

3. Bernie blows a big opportunity. Not too many states as white as Iowa. He's got NH, VT.

In order to have a chance, he needed a big win in Iowa, and then hope for some momentum effect.

[bunnies]

9. Dan, really?

I live in nh and I'm well beyond starting to be offended by your rhetoric.

[DanTex]

10. It's not rhetoric. Iowa is one of the whitest states. Bernie does best with white voters.

[bunnies]

12. I get your point.

But it feels like you're trying to paint us as racists. The demographics are what they are. I never chose to be in a white area. Its just where I grew up.

[uponit7771]

28. Come on people, how is that .. sigh... Sanders message resonates with affluent white liberals

... among the poor, blacks, Hispanics, gays, women and cute puppies*** we all support Hillary.

*** cute puppies don't get to vote in primaries

[Tien1985]

31. Funny how this

poor, hispanic, trans, gay person supports Sanders. Along with plenty of other people I know just like me. But by all means, keep saying "we all support Hillary." That doesn't sound like erasure or anything.

[uponit7771]

35. "how this" != the majority, I'm not being anectdotal ... it's polling data which we see

... doesn't mean shit this year so we'll all have to wait.

I think a long dem fight is good for the DNC... either introduce Hillary more or Sanders more...

We still win with either one IMHO

[floriduck]

32. I have to question the accuracy of this chart.

I don't see the state of Washington anywhere. So it's meaningless at this point. And we sure as hell aren't below Louisiana.

[basselope]

18. What does white have to do with anything?

[uponit7771]

21. After 7 months Sanders is still polling in the high teens with blacks in SC and overall with

... its mid 30s with PoC... he's not doing too well outside of VT, NH and IA like states

[basselope]

25. That mid 30's is up from 10% just a month or so ago.

[DanTex]

23. White voters are where Bernie is strongest. Iowa's demographics favor Bernie.

[basselope]

26. That is a false talking point.

[DanTex]

27. Check any poll.

[basselope]

34. I have, which is why I called it false.

[uponit7771]

29. no... the poor also favor HRC... Sanders wheel house has been white affluent liberals if he

... breaks out of that group and can get into the 40s with blacks and Hispanics in SC for instance...

We'd be in for a long run this election cycle

[uponit7771]

20. +1, It's like Sanders and MSM don't think the PoC votes will make the difference...

... they've been missing in the last 6 years

[Hoyt]

4. If Sanders doesn't go negative, you can bet his supporters will continue carrying the load.

[Flying Phoenix]

5. I think more of a steroid laden Clinton taking a pummeling, but it's only Round 1

Went from 80% to close to a dead heat, and it's not over. Round 2 heavily favors Bernie.

(when I say steroid laden, I mean she's already gotten over 50% of the available superdelegates)

[wildeyed]

7. No.

Because math. Iowa should be Sanders strength, since his base is white liberals. He needed to kill here and then get some momentum with black Democrats. I don't see that happening.

[HassleCat]

14. Oh, I see your point.

The massive underdog needed to win by 20 points. Makes perfect sense.

[wildeyed]

16. Math.

Demographics. Sorry if that is hard for you.

[basselope]

22. Clinton had a much stronger ground game and is failing to win.

She is getting her clock cleaned in New Hampshire.

Really nowhere to go for her... but down.

[uponit7771]

30. We'll see... right now Sanders is polling in the teens with blacks in SC... after 7 months... we'll

... see

[basselope]

33. That's not true

http://www.inquisitr.com/2754225/bernie-sanders-polls-south-carolina-poll-numbers-show-sanders-attacking-one-of-hillary-clintons-major-strengths/

[uponit7771]

36. Inside that poll, we're talking about blacks not all of SC...

A December poll by YouGov of South Carolina Democrats found that Sanders and Clinton were effectively tied among whites, but Clinton was winning about 80 percent of the black vote, compared to about 20 percent for Sanders.

[basselope]

38. And that number has been shrinking ever since.

[uponit7771]

40. last week?!... no... it's a recent poll and so is the marist poll with the 40% spread which is newer

[wildeyed]

37. Mmmmm, white liberal New Hampshire

next door to Sanders home state. And then SC. BOOM! You got Vermont to look forward to in March

[uponit7771]

24. Sanders did well to match Hillary but mostly affluent whites are already suppporting him while

... the poor, blacks, Hispanics, gays and cut puppies are supporting Hillary.

Sanders hasn't turned the aforementioned groups so far

[mpcamb]

8. Why be like the Republicans?

"...Once again, our favored candidate is trying to position herself not too far left and not too far right. It usually works, but it gets trickier each election for our candidate TO BE LIKE THE REPUBLICANS, but not too much like them."
(EMPHASIS MINE )

WHY BE LIKE THEM AT ALL? THERE'S NO HONOR IN THAT.

[RiverLover]

15. No kidding.

WTH?

We are DEMOCRATS, the OPPOSITION party, not trying to be like rethugs!! (Unless you're on the Hill side & just being honest?)

[HereSince1628]

11. How will this effect Hillary? It's gonna make her MAD!

And she doesn't campaign very nicely when she's mad. Personally I don't think she does mad very well, but you never know.

You can bet she'll look for every opportunity to take him down.

Bernie better not do any screaming into mics or that scream will be deemed seated in dementia.

[Stuckinthebush]

39. He had to win

He didn't. He's done