So far, the news that Bernie Sanders will run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination has received a lot of coverage, and many progressives who aren't crazy about the idea of Hillary Clinton being the nominee are welcoming him with open arms.
In fact, as someone who has long felt that Bernie Sanders comes closest to my political views (even he is a bit too conservative for my tastes, but he's far closer than any other elected official in Washington), my hope had been that if he decided to run it would be as a Democrat, so as not to risk the danger of splitting Democrats in the 2016 general election.
So, as someone who has no problem with Hillary as the Democratic nominee, but who has been a long-time admirer of Sanders, it is now a little bit of a challenge for me as to who to support in New York's Democratic presidential primary next year. Fortunately, there's a lot of time to think about that before making my final decision. (The biggest question in my mind is which of those candidates stands the best chance of preventing a Republican from taking over the White House, which would be devastating for the Supreme Court (and a whole slew of issues that the court can affect), from a progressive perspective at least.)
Yesterday, a thought occurred to me: Might Sanders' entry actually end up helping Hillary win the nomination?
Prior to Sanders' announcement, the only other major Democrat who has been looking like a sure candidate besides Hillary was former Gov. Martin O'Malley from Maryland (though there are a couple of others thinking about it, as well). O'Malley seemed to be trying to position himself as the best alternative to Hillary from the left.
But that all changed this week. Now, there are likely to be at least two candidates who will be trying to position themselves as more progressive alternatives to Hillary, which changes the whole dynamic of the campaign for the nomination. And that could be good for Hillary. If she has two people vying for the more progressive base of the Democratic Party, that could leave her in better position as the primary campaign season gears up. That would leave her not only with some progressives (like myself) who have no problem with Hillary, based on her progressive record as our New York Senator, but also leave her pretty well positioned to carry the rest of those in the Democratic Party (middle-of-the-road types and the more conservative Democrats).
Splitting the progressive base of the Democratic Party may not be the only way that Sanders might end up helping Hillary, either. While there's always a chance that Sanders might win the Democratic nomination, there's also the possibility that if he succeeds in creating a major nationwide grassroots movement, he could end up being an attractive viable vice presidential candidate, as well.
And there's another way that Sanders could end up helping not just Hillary, but the Democratic Party as a whole. And that would be to give a lot of people who are disgusted with the current corrupt political system a reason for hope, a reason to vote and perhaps even a reason to become politically active.
An argument can easily be made that Bernie's entry into the contest for the Democratic nomination could be a blessing in disguise for Hillary. Of course, only time will tell.