. . . why would they choose Bernie Sanders? Seth Abramson lays out the Sanders argument on this:
Sanders and his supporters believe that the super-delegates — placed in a situation which, to be clear, they have never encountered before — would switch en masse to vote for Sanders in late July.
I don’t think Sanders and his supporters have thought this one through. You see, once you open this Pandora’s Box, there’s no reason for Super Delegates to limit their choices to Clinton and Sanders. There is an obvious choice for the Super Delegates if they were even remotely considering overturning the pledged delegate result — his name is Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States.
While there has been no recent polling of Biden-Trump. it’s a fair assumption that Biden runs at least as well as Sanders in these H2H polls. I think it is delusional to think the super delegates favor Sanders over Biden under any circumstances. Indeed, Sanders’ super delegate argument is anti-Clinton not pro-Sanders. He sees himself as the superdelegates’ only way to replace Clinton as nominee.
But obviously it is not. Joe Biden is right there — tanned, rested and ready. Biden has always been Plan B for the super delegates and if they decide to trigger Plan B, they will go for Joe Biden, not Bernie Sanders.
How would they do this? By denying a first ballot nominee the votes necessary to clinch the nomination, pushing the Convention to a 2nd ballot, On the second ballot, Biden could clinch a majority of the delegates necessary for the nomination.
I can’t think of any scenario where the superdelegates go for Sanders. This is the Establishment remember?
To be clear, this is all delusional nonsense. But even within this delusional nonsense, Sanders and his supporters superdelegate “strategy” is delusional nonsense. Sanders will NEVER be the Democratic nominee. In the unlikely event it is not Clinton. it will be Joe Biden.
If the pledged delegate results can be discarded, then there is no reason not to choose Biden over Sanders.
I tell you what would be interesting, if Sanders argued for Biden as nominee. Now THERE would be a plot twist!