Quotes to help prove Sanders wants to overrule the voters if Hillary wins
“Mark Longabaugh, a top aide to the senator, told The Huffington Post that Sanders is prepared to stay in the race even if it becomes clear that Clinton has a majority of the pledged delegates and an insurmountable lead after the final primary on June 7. [April 20, day after NY loss]” —Huff Po
Background on Superdelegate history. DailyBeast
Sanders has captured 46 percent of Democrats’ pledged delegates but just 42 percent of raw votes. —538
“They’re going to have to go into their hearts, and they are going to have to ask, do they want the second strongest candidate to run against Trump or do they want the strongest candidate?” To Nation Press Club, WashPo, May 1.
“He says he stands by the message of his petition, even if it ultimately works against his preferred candidate. “My position hasn’t changed; we should respect the cumulative will of the voters and whoever is ahead in pledged delegates that were elected by the people,” he says. “The cumulative winner of the pledged delegate count is who should be the Democratic nominee.” –Joshua Grossman, president of the super PAC Progressive Kick, April, 26. Rolling Stone
“Let me be very clear. It is virtually impossible for Sec. Clinton to reach the majority of convention delegates by June 14 (that is the last day that a primary will be held) with pledged delegates alone.” He repeats this without the () at 6:04. [To Nation Press Club, YouTube 5:50, May 1.] In other words the convention will be a contested contest (swallows the word contest).
[He says that in states with strong majority, superdelegates should reflect the voters. Then he says:] In my view, it is incumbent on every superdelegate to take a hard and objective look at which candidate stands the better chance of defeating Donald Trump and other Republican candidates, … I would be the stronger candidate to defeat trump.” ……. “13:30 I would hope, some of those delegates will say to themselves, Bernie has the better chance and that is what’s most important to me.” “21:30 he gets asked if Trump quoting him won’t help Trump defeat Clinton. He pretends not to get it, but the reporter explains it to him and he denies it.” … “23:50 If, I think, the objective evidence (and we will see, we still gotta go through June 14) but I think that if the evidence is there that we are by far the stronger candidate, I’m confident that we will win some of those votes over.”
24:42–25:46 “Mary Alice: “If you do not secure the majority of pledged delegates do you still believe that superdelegates should switch [nods yes] and back you [yeah] as in rejecting the will of the voters? Yeah, well you know it’s a funny thing. Where right now you have the state after state where we have won landslide victories and there are superdelegates who are saying “we don’t have to listen to the people,” we’ll vote for Hillary Clinton. I think at the end of the day, superdelegates are going to have to consider — and by the way I hope — it’s a steep hill to climb — I hope that we will win the pledged delegates, but at the end of the day the responsibility the superdelegates have is to decide what is best for this country and what is best for the Democratic Party. And if those superdelegates conclude that Bernie Sanders is the best candidate, the strongest candidate to defeat Trump and anybody else, yes I would very much welcome their support.”
24:42–25:46 “Mary Alice: “If you do not secure the majority of pledged delegates do you still believe that superdelegates should switch [nods yes] and back you [yeah] as in rejecting the will of the voters? Yeah, well you know it’s a funny thing. … I think at the end of the day, superdelegates are going to have to consider — and by the way … I hope that we will win the pledged delegates, but at the end of the day … if those superdelegates conclude that Bernie Sanders is the best candidate, … yes I would very much welcome their support.”
Sanders’ aides, however, say he might pursue a superdelegate strategy even if he finishes behind — a recipe for a divisive battle. (It would also make Sanders, who long argued that pledged delegates should determine the outcome, look hypocritical.) Morning Call 05/10
The race for who the Democratic nominee will be should be decided by the voters, not by a handful of party elite. Add your name now to call on all Democratic superdelegates to pledge to support the popularly-elected winner of the nomination. Robert Reich petition at DFA.
Second MoveOn Petition
His basic plan is this. Force all states to have open primaries so anyone can vote in them. Get rid of the superdelegates so the party cannot protect itself from a Trump-style challenge. Challenge and bump off as many Democrats as possible with the socialist equivalent of the Tea-Party candidates in primaries. Then in the next presidential year, mount another challenge to the party (probably with a different candidate) like he did this time. The result will be the organizational equivalent of what has happened to the Republicans.
Notes for future writing:
“What we’re saying is when millions of people come together to restore their government we can do extraordinary things.” The Guardian
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he believes he can boost his own standing in the race by swaying supporters of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to back his campaign. —The Guardian
Canvassers working on the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are being instructed to sell their candidate to Donald Trump supporters. The Hill
With the Republican presidential nomination within his grasp, Donald Trump is courting an unlikely group of voters: Bernie Sanders supporters. Newsvine
His [Trumps] very best voters are self-identified Republicans who nonetheless are registered as Democrats. It’s a coalition that’s concentrated in the South, Appalachia and the industrial North, NYTimes
Guardian — Are you secretly for Trump
Guardian — Are you feeling the Bern for Donald Trump
Guardian — Sanders voters who would choose Trump over Clinton
If June 7th comes and goes and Hillary Clinton has won the pledged delegates, and she’s won the popular vote, there are going to be calls from her campaign and calls from a lot of influential delegates in this country for you to the Sanders campaign to unite around her. You’re saying instead of that you will spend those months, those weeks in the summer, trying to flip super-delegates to Bernie Sanders before the convention. At the point, Yes, absolutely.” —Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign manager, shows Steve Kornacki, at end of video
The interview took place while Sanders was campaigning in Indiana on the day after losing four of five primaries in Eastern states to Hillary Clinton. Here are some excerpts: “We’re in this race to win. We understand the arithmetic. We understand that our path toward victory is narrow, but we also understand that we’re living in a pretty crazy political world, especially in the last year, and so long as we have a path toward victory, no matter how narrow it may be, we’ll pursue it.”
“I think clearly the convention and the Democratic National Committee can change the rules and can create a scenario that makes it clear that we want open primaries in 50 states in this country.”
“I’m not against the idea of superdelegates. … Right now, one-fourth of [Clinton’s] entire delegate count is superdelegates. That’s too much. … It’s a huge advantage.” WashPo
The Clinton campaign, which went on the air two months earlier than Sanders, has still spent far less on media buys and consulting: nearly $62 million compared with his more than $91 million. WashPo
Bernie Sanders’ lone supporter in the Senate said Thursday that the Vermont senator should end his presidential campaign if he’s losing to Hillary Clinton after the primary season concludes in June, breaking sharply with the candidate who is vowing to take his insurgent bid to the party convention in Philadelphia. CNN
“You’re trying to woo us now, but we remember when you were trashing us,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, one of 21 superdelegates from the state, the largest of five that hold primaries Tuesday. LATimes
“The next big thing will be this wave of petitions targeting individual superdelegates,” said MoveOn Washington Director Ben Wikler. “Asking individual members of Congress and governors and other superdelegates to individually make a pledge to support the will of the voters when it comes time to count their votes.”
A second petition by three progressive groups asks superdelegates to “announce that in the event of a close race, you’ll align yourself with regular voters – not party elites.” That petition, which grew by 10,000 signatures between Friday and Sunday, had 171,010 signatures Sunday, with a stated goal of 175,000. Politico
“The whole concept of superdelegates is problematic,” he said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
The Vermont senator said he thinks it would be a good idea for superdelegates to come over to his side in states where he has won by a significant margin. “I think it might be a good idea for superdelegates to listen to the people in their own state,” he said.
“I just talked to a person the other day who said, ‘You know what? I am going to listen to my state, and if my state votes for you, Bernie, you’re going to have my vote.'” The Hill
Mark Longabaugh, a top aide to the senator, told The Huffington Post that Sanders is prepared to stay in the race even if it becomes clear that Clinton has a majority of the pledged delegates and an insurmountable lead after the final primary on June 7.
The strategy outlined by Longabaugh echoed the case made the night before by Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, who told MSNBC that the campaign will try to flip superdelegates away from Clinton before the convention. Neither candidate, Longabaugh argued, will have enough pledged delegates to secure the presidential nomination without the help of superdelegates. The latter officials will then have to decide which candidate gives the party the best shot to win in November. Sanders and his aides believe they have the better case.
“We intend to go to the convention and make the superdelegates vote,” Longabaugh said. HuffPo
