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Iamaartist

(3,300 posts)
Sat May 14, 2016, 09:33 PM May 2016

Democrats fear Sanders is undermining efforts to beat Trump

http://ksn.com/2016/05/14/democrats-fear-sanders-is-undermining-efforts-to-beat-trump/



WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Party leaders are upping the pressure on Bernie Sanders to drop his presidential campaign, alarmed that his continued presence is undermining efforts to beat the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and again win the White House.

“I don’t think they think of the downside of this,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a supporter of front-runner Hillary Clinton and broker of the post-primary peace between Clinton and then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.

“It’s actually harmful because she can’t make that general-election pivot the way she should,” Feinstein said. “Trump has made that pivot.”

The new concerns come after Sanders’ recent wins over Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week’s primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton’s nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party’s nomination.

Still Sanders soldiers on, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.

“Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton’s problems,” Sanders said in a recent interview with MSNBC. “It is a steep hill to climb, but we’re going to fight for every last vote.”

Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid against Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders’ decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.

“I would just hope that he would understand that we need to begin consolidating our vote sooner rather than later,” said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., a Clinton backer and former chief of efforts to elect Democrats to the House. “Democrats cannot wait too long.”

Though Clinton has for the past few weeks largely focused her rhetoric on Trump, campaign aides say the two-front effort hampers their ability to target both Sanders supporters and Republican-leaning independents that may be open to her candidacy. It also means she’s spending time in primary states, rather than battlegrounds that will decide the general election.





longer article

He needs to drop out......
8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Democrats fear Sanders is undermining efforts to beat Trump (Original Post) Iamaartist May 2016 OP
I'm not a Bernie supporter so gwheezie May 2016 #1
I agree, also it is annoying for her to go though this.... Iamaartist May 2016 #6
There's enough time Treant May 2016 #2
I'm starting to believe that he won't drop out or endorse Hillary. grossproffit May 2016 #3
That is a true fact.... Iamaartist May 2016 #7
Well, he is. wisteria May 2016 #4
He's trying.. but, like everything else.. it's not working. Cha May 2016 #5
The never ending BS....he will fade soon but not soon enough for us here. Iamaartist May 2016 #8

gwheezie

(3,580 posts)
1. I'm not a Bernie supporter so
Sat May 14, 2016, 10:00 PM
May 2016

I just as soon see him drop out and immediately support Hillary but I don't think he's hurting her that much for the GE. It's annoying and she's fighting on 2 fronts but I have no doubt Hillary is more than ready to take on trump.

Treant

(1,968 posts)
2. There's enough time
Sat May 14, 2016, 10:10 PM
May 2016

and no real concern about the general election at this point. Clinton stayed in far later in a far more competitive spot than Sanders ever will.

At this point, the big problem is Sanders' destroying his own reputation.

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