Post-mortem: Did Sanders run a good campaign?

[Xing]

Do you think, all things considered, that Sanders ran a strong campaign? Try not to consider your own personal feelings about him as a man/politician. This is about how much success his campaign had. He lost, but did he do relatively well given the circumstances?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

In terms of results, yes.  Far exceeded my expectations as I only had Sanders carrying a handful of states and then dropping out shortly after Super Tuesday.

In terms of the campaign itself, no.  Jeff Weaver is an idiot and will hopefully never chair another presidential campaign again.

[Wisconsin+17]

Thought he ran a strong campaign, one of the best ever.

[RaphaelDLG]

Flawless?  Hell no.

Shockingly good, massively over-performing against a woman with as much name recognition as any other one on planet earth, who regularly makes the top 5 most admired females list, who is from the most powerful family in Democratic politics, who had overwhelming establishment support...?

...the answer is obvious.

[Santander]

He out-fundraised arguably the most establishment candidate in modern history, running openly as a socialist. He did damn well, and he should be proud.

[ProudModerate2]

He out-fundraised arguably the most establishment candidate in modern history, running openly as a socialist. He did damn well, and he should be proud.

Absolutely !
I hope Hillary gives him a (respectable) position within the Administration, if Bernie wants one.

[Xing]

FTR, I'm not sure I can answer this question yet myself. I think that if the platform at the DNC is progressive, Hillary Clinton embraces the progressive label, and the younger voters (or most of them, at least) stay involved, his campaign was a success on the whole.

[Ljube]

No. If he had attacked Hillary, he could have won.

[IceSpear]

He did about as well as anyone possibly could have, with the possible exception of Warren. Hillary was just inevitable.

[This account no longer in use.]

He was certainly good at sexist and racist dogwhistling.

[ProudModerate2]

No. If he had attacked Hillary, he could have won.

OMG.
I thought that if I peeked-in at this hour, this "Ljube cat" would be asleep.
There is never a peaceful moment (with Ljube).

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Hell no.

Have friends inside the campaign, it was an absolute nightmare.

There were tight operations on the state level, and the field staff were top notch. Digital obviously did a good job fundraising. A lot of the younger folks hired on to run states etc were VERY good.

But the upper levels of the campaign, especially in Comms, and the ambiguous Political/Mucky Muck/inner circle staff were a mess of backbiting, outdated strategy, and micromanagement.

[Ljube]

No. If he had attacked Hillary, he could have won.

OMG.
I thought that if I peeked-in at this hour, this "Ljube cat" would be asleep.
There is never a peaceful moment (with Ljube).

Waiting for Bernie to announce that he will run as the candidate of the Green Party.

[Lyin' Steve]

I think his astroturfing operation was spectacular and led to his breaking out of the pack and convincing young people that his socialist message was the future.  Other than that, though, after Iowa it was just one mistake after another and he never really came as close to Hillary as someone with his advantages and her disadvantages probably should have.  I feel like Hillary didn't have to try very hard to beat him.  Overall, mixed feelings.  In 2015 he ran a very good campaign, but once the primaries started 2016 was quite poor.  This is, of course, discounting the fact that many of his problems in 2016 were born of mistakes made in 2015, in particular his decision to not make any attempt to attract superdelegate support or endorsements from within the party.  The extra 4-5% he would have gotten from some smarter investments in infrastructure and party support in 2015 would have netted him the Iowa/NH/Nevada trifecta start, helped him avoid being crushed on March 15 and ACELA, and maybe helped him appeal beyond his big base.  He would still have gotten murdered in the south and in most of the big Clinton states though, even if she still had gone easy on him.

Overall, Bernie needed black voters, his biggest mistake was letting Hillary get that 200 delegate margin set up early, that really locked the inevitability narrative into place, and rightfully so since one month into the race she had already practically wrapped it up, even without counting the superdelegates.

[RaphaelDLG]

Hell no.

Have friends inside the campaign, it was an absolute nightmare.

There were tight operations on the state level, and the field staff were top notch. Digital obviously did a good job fundraising. A lot of the younger folks hired on to run states etc were VERY good.

But the upper levels of the campaign, especially in Comms, and the ambiguous Political/Mucky Muck/inner circle staff were a mess of backbiting, outdated strategy, and micromanagement.

I buy that, and part of that blame lies on the Captain of the ship, but it's not like any top notch folks were dashing to work for Sanders.  Clinton locked all of the experienced veterans up way early.

[RaphaelDLG]

He was certainly good at sexist and racist dogwhistling.

You forgot occult squirrel torture.

[Famous Mortimer]

America is ready for social democracy. It was actually ready back in 2008. Because there's such a need for it, because America is crying out for it, Bernie did well. He did well despite his horrible campaign performance.

He should have gone harder after Clinton. He should have campaigned harder in Iowa. He should have taken Secret Service protection from the very start, so those dumb BLM protesters never could have gotten on stage.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Hell no.

Have friends inside the campaign, it was an absolute nightmare.

There were tight operations on the state level, and the field staff were top notch. Digital obviously did a good job fundraising. A lot of the younger folks hired on to run states etc were VERY good.

But the upper levels of the campaign, especially in Comms, and the ambiguous Political/Mucky Muck/inner circle staff were a mess of backbiting, outdated strategy, and micromanagement.

I buy that, and part of that blame lies on the Captain of the ship, but it's not like any top notch folks were dashing to work for Sanders.  Clinton locked all of the experienced veterans up way early.

Yeah, but he did manage to unearth some undiscovered talent in the new generation. Having volunteered with the NH staff, a lot of them are going to go very far.

And of course Revolution Messaging (his digital firm) is the hot sh**t in DC now.

[Lyin' Steve]

Hell no.

Have friends inside the campaign, it was an absolute nightmare.

There were tight operations on the state level, and the field staff were top notch. Digital obviously did a good job fundraising. A lot of the younger folks hired on to run states etc were VERY good.

But the upper levels of the campaign, especially in Comms, and the ambiguous Political/Mucky Muck/inner circle staff were a mess of backbiting, outdated strategy, and micromanagement.

I buy that, and part of that blame lies on the Captain of the ship, but it's not like any top notch folks were dashing to work for Sanders.  Clinton locked all of the experienced veterans up way early.

Yeah I could see this.  There were a LOT of young people who were very skilled at social media, online presence and fundraising, hype building and image appeal to other young people, and they obviously didn't like Clinton, so they signed up with the most interesting rival.  But the top levels of the campaign, and Bernie himself, were a train wreck, and I'm not sure they even understand what they had or how they got it.  Contrast with Obama, who had a similar gift handed to him but also had the skill and surrounded himself with the expertise to be able to channel it into a successful campaign operation that not only won him two relatively easy elections but also helped engineer a congressional sweep that same year (2008).

[This account no longer in use.]

Just stop already. No one thinks you're funny.

How can somebody have so little self awareness?

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Just stop already. No one thinks you're funny.

How can somebody have so little self awareness?

TBH was about to compare you.

~Happy New Hampshire Man.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

When he announced, I thought he'd get like 35% in New Hampshire and drop out. So yes, he did run a good campaign.

[Lief 🗽]

I think Sanders was a very good candidate, but he ultimately ran a poor campaign.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

I think Sanders was a very good candidate, but he ultimately ran a poor campaign.

[Dr. Arch]

Third option:

-Yes at the beginning
-No after March