Debbie Wasserman Schultz is an idiot, a hack, and the DNC had their thumb on the scale for the Clinton campaign, but it had little to do with Clinton winning. Clinton won because she had millions more votes than Sanders. Her supporters showed up to vote in greater numbers and she had longstanding connections in minority communities. That's it.
Were there incidents of voter disenfranchisement? Yes. Did they materially influence the outcome of the primary? No. In fact, the incidents of disenfranchisement particularly in Maricopa County in New Mexico, probably hurt Clinton more than they hurt Sanders. Did party rules hurt Sanders? Maybe, but they were in place well before this primary and an equally good argument could be made that the long primary process helped Sanders by allowing his name to get out there.
Clinton received 16,847,075 votes while Sanders received 13,168,214. This is in contrast to the 2008 Democratic primary where Obama received 17,584,692 votes and Clinton received 17,857,501. The turnout numbers for 2008 don't even include the large states of Florida and Michigan that were excluded from the final count because they moved their primaries in violation of party rules. The bottom line: Worry about showing up to vote, not massive conspiracies between the incompetent DNC and the clueless Clinton campaign.
Sanders campaign accomplished a lot despite not winning the nomination:
- The TPP will likely be killed well before it has the chance to reach Clinton's desk.
- The default position in the Democratic Party is now a public option that is the best way toward universal health care.
- Clinton has now endorsed free tuition for families making under $125,000 a year.
- The number of super-delegates has been cut by two-thirds in the primary process.
These are all good and tangible things accomplished by the Sanders campaign and they will be completely abandoned if Donald Trump is our next president.
The next President will get to name 1-4 Supreme Court justices and greatly influence how the constitution is interpreted for the next 30 years. The choices are Clinton or Trump. If you're a progressive voter and you cast a third party vote or don't show up, that's half a vote for Trump. Voting is a collective action, not a consumer choice.
