Democratic Primaries

The initial number is lower than in 2016.

Your discussion of 2008 opens an interesting subject. Coverage of the 2008 primary laid great stress on Mrs. Clinton's great support from 'working class whites', the 'real Americans' of hackneyed political lore. Just as much of Sanders' support in 2016 from 'working class whites' was rooted in misogyny, so much of Mrs. Clinton's support in 2008 was rooted in racism.

An illustration of this comes from West Virginia. Mrs. Clinton carried it handily in the 2008 primary, to much congratulation on her 'working class white' support. In 2012, a white man doing time in a Federal prison managed to get his name on the Democratic primary ballot in that state, and took something like 40% of the vote against a sitting (negro) President of the United States. In 2016, when Sanders carried West Virginia against Mrs. Clinton, roughly 40% of Sanders voters declared in the exit polls they had every intention of voting for Trump, even if Sanders' were to secure the nomination.

There is doubtless an appreciable body of people who supported Mrs. Clinton in the 2008 primary, supported 'Bernie' in the 2016 primary, and voted in the 2008 general election for McCain and in the 2016 general election for the cheap thug Trump. It seems mystifying only to people who cannot look squarely at things, and pundits who cannot bring themselves to name large currents beneath the surface of our political life. For the unifying theme that runs through all these 'apparent contradictions' is a reluctance of many 'white working class' types to vote for a negro or a woman, with a white woman being considered slightly preferable to a black man, though damned near any white man is to be preferred to a white woman. My language is a bit saltier when explaining things to my grandchildren, but that will do for a public forum....





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."