Bernie was originally skeptical that he could beat Hillary...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/us/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=15&pgtype=sectionfront

<snip>
All those decisions stemmed in part from Mr. Sanders’s outlook on the race. He was originally skeptical that he could beat Mrs. Clinton, and his mission in 2015 was to spread his political message about a rigged America rather than do whatever it took to win the nomination. By the time he caught fire with voters this winter and personally began to believe he could defeat Mrs. Clinton, she was already on her way to building an all but insurmountable delegate lead.

The Democratic race could yet take unpredictable turns, and his campaign is vowing to win. If Mr. Sanders beats Mrs. Clinton in her adopted home state, New York, on April 19, he could raise damaging questions about her candidacy and gain more momentum. But he would still need to win a landslide victory there and in Pennsylvania, California and other states to overtake her in delegates this spring. For Mr. Sanders, the missteps of 2015 and early 2016 — leading to his delegate deficit — are the greatest drag on his recent success.

Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and senator who ran for the Democratic nomination in 1992 and who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton in the current race, said Mr. Sanders might be winning now if he had relentlessly pressured Mrs. Clinton since last fall over her closed-door speeches to Wall Street banks, her role in the finances of Clinton Foundation programs, and other vulnerabilities. Mr. Sanders did not raise the paid-speech issue, after long resistance, until late January.

“Making the transcripts of the Goldman speeches public would have been devastating” to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Kerrey said. “When the G.O.P. gets done telling the Clinton Global Initiative fund-raising and expense story, Bernie supporters will wonder why he didn’t do the same.”


.....more