NPR: Ahead Of Super Tuesday, And After A Big Loss, Bernie Sanders Lowers Expectations
To understand how Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign is reacting to the candidate's gigantic loss in South Carolina's Democratic primary, it's important to understand how he reacted to another loss just a few weeks ago, in Iowa.
The two results couldn't be more different. Sanders' performance in Iowa could be considered a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton, and he called it just that. Clinton won the Democratic caucuses by less than half a percentage point. That night, on Sanders' chartered jet taking him from Des Moines to campaign in New Hampshire – just after what felt like a victory speech – campaign staffers popped bottles of champagne during the flight. Bernie Sanders, in an extremely good mood, came back and talked with members of the traveling press. Team Bernie was having a great night.
Flash forward to South Carolina. Sanders didn't even hold events in the state on the day of that vote. Instead, he held rallies in Austin, Dallas and Rochester, Minn. After the Dallas events, before the Sanders campaign took flight for Minnesota, the results were beginning to trickle in. There would be no champagne on the plane. There would be no friendly gaggles with the press.
By the time Sanders' plane landed in Minnesota, the results were clear, and definite. Sanders had lost South Carolina, badly. On the tarmac, he told the press, "In politics, on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost."
more: http://www.npr.org/2016/02/29/468503343/ahead-of-super-tuesday-and-after-a-big-loss-bernie-sanders-lowers-expectations
