How rational Democrats can beat Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is leading. But he’s not winning, and there’s a huge difference.

But winning the Democratic nomination requires a majority of the votes, and Sanders isn’t close to that. In early voting states he’s won about 25% of the votes, with most of the rest split among five other candidates. That’s roughly the same approval rating Sanders has among Democratic votes nationwide—and it’s not nearly enough to clinch the Democratic nomination.

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Sanders looks far less invincible when breaking down the vote for the four to five moderates (including Tom Steyer) and the two leftists, Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. In Iowa, the Biden moderates got 54% of the vote while Sanders and Warren got 44%. In New Hampshire, the moderates got 56% while the leftists got just 35%, with several lesser candidates getting a few percentage points. Moderates are winning, overall. They’re just splitting the vote among too many people to allow any single candidate to stand out.

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If Biden, Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Steyer formed a cartel to nominate just one of them to beat Sanders, who should it be? Process of elimination suggests Bloomberg is better as a funder than a candidate, Biden is too fumbly and old, Steyer too marginal, and Buttigieg too unproven. That leaves Amy Klobuchar, 59, who has a strong resume as a prosecutor and senator from Minnesota. Her Midwestern roots could help with crucial swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin. As a woman who’s not Hillary Clinton, she might be a persuasive alternative—especially among Independents—to Trump in the general election.

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-rational-democrats-can-beat-bernie-sanders-170124304.html