Nevada!

When I went to bed last night, Fox News had already called Nevada for Bernie, with 3% of the vote in and Bernie with a whopping 56%. I was thrilled, but decided to write my blog in the morning, worried that they might chip away at that percentage through the night and leaving us with an Iowa scenario.
Well, there was a bit of chipping, but with 50% of the count now in, Bernie is still the winner by a landslide, although it’s down to 46%. Here are a few of my thoughts.
46% is a big win, for sure, but it’s not over 50%. We can’t slack off. We can’t be complacent. And we have to start winning primaries with over 50%, because if Bernie doesn’t walk into that convention with 51% of the delegates, we have no idea who’s going to walk out as the nominee.
On the other hand, the rest of the vote in Nevada was fractured, and Joe Biden might be the only one who gets any other delegates. That’s bad, because anybody with any delegates at all is likely to stay in the race till the end, and Joe might pick up some more in South Carolina and on super Tuesday. He may look like a walking corpse, he may talk like a walking corpse, but his campaign isn’t dead until he and the DNC say it it, and they’ll be in it to the finish.
Warren did very badly. On the one hand, I’m happy with that, because I don’t like Warren, and she’s one who I fear because she’s the closest to being a Bernie alternative. On the other hand, I’m surprised. After a stellar debate performance like that, she didn’t even break 10%. It might be an indicator that debates don’t matter at all, and I find that sad.
Sure, anybody can say anything at a debate, and you really should look deeper into a candidate’s record, but people aren’t doing that, either. If the debates don’t make a difference, it’s an indicator that people are basing their votes on even more spurious sources of news, like newspapers and the major TV networks, sound bites, and ads.
re the Culinary Union, which I think is a huge bright spot this morning. Even though their top management did not endorse Sanders (did they receive Bloomberg cash? I’ve got no direct evidence of that, except we know lots and lots of people have got Bloomberg cash), the rank and file voted for him in large numbers.
They may have the most money. But we’ve got the best message. And the votes.