2016 Postmortem

VOX had a good article on the potential lines of attack that Sanders would be exposed to if Sanders was the nominee. http://www.vox.com/2016/2/3/10903404/gop-campaign-against-sanders One of the more interesting observations in the VOX analysis is the fact that Sanders have been treated with kids gloves compared to what Sanders would face if he was the Democratic nominee. I strongly agree with the VOX's position that the so-called negative attacks against Sander have been mild. Form the article:

Again, I agree with the VOX position that so far, Sanders Was not been subject to negative attacks close to what the GOP would use against Sanders and the attacks against Sanders if he was the nominee would be brutal. I urge Sanders supporters to read the VOX article to start to get a feel for what real negative attacks would look like. The Sanders supporters over-reacted to anyone who did not treat sanders as a saint and so the Clinton campaign made the decision to treat Sanders with kid gloves.

At the national convention, the Clinton delegates were told that the Sanders delegates had to be treated with kid gloves because they were so prone to acting up. I saw this first hand. The Sanders delegates at the National Convention were not vetted at all and many of the Sanders delegates did a great deal of damage to the premise of the OP that the Sanders wing is destined to be the dominant faction in the Democratic party