Right now, a lot of Daily Kos readers are very enthusiastic about Senator Bernie Sanders, wanting him to become the nominee of the Democratic Party. I'm one of those enthusiasts. However, the battle is more uphill than you might think.
You see, the Democratic Party process is not as cut and dried as winning states. There are two reasons for this.
First, the caucus and primary process uses proportional delegate representation instead of winner-take-all plurality of the vote. This is why plurality or majority wins in various states didn't mean a big boost for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama back in 2008. If they were within a few points of each other then they would get very similar delegate counts. This is why we have extended Democratic primary seasons during contested primary seasons, and this cycle is not likely to be an exception.
The second reason is the one that might sink Senator Sanders' campaign: the superdelegates. While other delegates are sent to vote a particular way at the Democratic National Convention, the superdelegates can choose to vote however they want. There were some 789.5 superdelegate votes in the 2008 Democratic primary, out of a little more than 4100 total delegates. The New York Times has the numbers.
This means that nearly a fifth of all delegate votes come from superdelegates. So far, Hillary Clinton has gotten considerably more endorsements than Bernie Sanders, and many of those endorsements come from superdelegates.
While delegate and superdelegate counts do vary each election cycle, it is entirely conceivable that Bernie could win every Democratic primary, averaging 55-40 over Hillary, and still lose if the bulk of the superdelegates vote for Hillary.
And before you say that's not possible, consider that Bernie has previously declined Democratic Party nominations for the House of Representatives and the US Senate. Party leaders might not want Bernie coming in as the standard bearer given his maverick nature, despite him persistently caucusing with Democrats in Congress. Letting him do that in Congress is one thing. As a presidential candidate it might be quite another.
I want Bernie to win the nomination. I will not hold my nose at the thought of voting for Hillary Clinton in the general election should she win. But I will not be happy about the process if Bernie clearly wins the popular primary vote but still loses the primary.