I never appreciated that a party's nominee is not only for President but for head of the party

[andym]

if they win. Of course they do not officially hold the DNC chairmanship, but the chair of both parties almost always defers to the President of their own party.

Now it's generally, not always true. For example, when Jimmy Carter was President, it never seemed he was head of the Democratic Party as he faced quite a bit of opposition to his ideas in Congress, which was controlled by Democrats. In the end he was unsuccessfully primaried by Ted Kennedy. But Carter is the exception, LBJ was clearly both President and party chief. Trump is an extreme example for Republicans, with almost every Republican kowtowing to him.

I'm not sure that the electorate understands this dual role completely. It would be very interesting to hear what each candidate has to say about how they would lead the party at a debate. Many posts here seem to be concerned about the latter role, and how the nominee would promote down ticket races or not.

[Pantagruel]

1. Sanders is an Independent

That creates problems with his candidacy.

[KT2000]

2. Carter ran as an outsider

that rankled the Democrats in Congress so they did not try too hard to work with him. With Sanders it would be worse. He is running as a Democrat but he has zero loyalty to the party. He will turn on the Democrats more than he already has.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Why I cannot support Bernie this time......

As he is looking like he just might garner a plurality of delegates going into the DNC this July.

If he does not join the Democratic Party, how can he be it's leader as the Nominee? I see a conflict here.

I will vote for him if he is the nominee.

[Gothmog]

4. This is another reason why I am supporting Biden

A real Democrat should be the head of the party

[oasis]

5. With more than enough qualified Democrats to choose from, never should

we travel down this road again. I mean never.