2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination

With Barack Obama ineligible to run for a third term, Hillary Clinton believed her time had come (again). Political independent Bernie Sanders and a few other Democrats had other ideas.
The hacked e-mails showed that the DNC viewed her nomination as a foregone conclusion, and it probably was. But they claimed to be neutral, while pressuring media surrogates to boost her image with favorable stories while ignoring Sanders. Did the DNC rig the primaries? Not exactly. But they worked closely with Hillary's campaign, hosted fundraising events that raised tens of millions for her at the expense of state committees, and made a mockery of party bylaws that required them to remain neutral in primaries.
==Confirmed running==
===Dropped out===
Age: Former Rhode Island Governor and Senator
Dropped out 23 October 2015	Advantages: King of the RINOs. He voted against the Bush tax cuts"Sen. Lincoln Chafee on the Bush tax cuts proposal", CNN (4/24/03 at 5:09 PM EDT). and the Iraq War resolution,Levitz, Jennifer, "The Price of Independence", WSJ 12.23.11. −the latter of which is his favorite line of attack against Hillary, whom he thinks should be disqualified from the race as a result.Rucker, Phillip, "Lincoln Chafee, exploring 2016 run, says Clinton’s Iraq vote should disqualify her", WaPo 9 April 2015.
A unicorn social liberal who supports stem cell research and taxes on the wealthy. Opposes the death penalty,Chafee, "My Pleau stand affirms core R.I. values", Providence Journal 8/24/11. Courtesy of the Death Penalty Information Center. torture, and arctic drilling.http://www.ontheissues.org/Lincoln_Chafee.htm Advocates for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories.Mulligan, John E., "Chafee, Laffey differ on Mideast", 
Providence Journal 4/16/06. Archived by Free Republic. Mind you, this all happened when he was a Republican.
Age: Former Rhode Island Governor and Senator
Dropped out 23 October 2015	Disadvantages: Toed the party line on free trade, the Patriot Act, and supported partial privatization of Social Security. His environmental record as Governor was a mixed bag. He's fairly unpopular in his home state, having lost his seat to Sheldon Whitehouse (With a name like that why didn't HE run?), and only winning the gubernatorial race in a 3-way election. He also lacks the monetary apparatus of Clinton.
He actually called himself a "block of granite" on the issues in contrast to Hillary. His debate answers gave you zero sense of what Chafee actually stood for. (Is anyone here a "metric system" one-issue voter?) Watching him obliterate his own future was pretty glorious, in an awful kind of way. ("Secretary Clinton, would you like to respond?" "No.")
He now works out of a small office in a strip mall, trying to recoup his campaign debt. The guy should have just retired comfortably and privately.DeCosta-Klipa, Nik, "Lincoln Chafee has no regrets", Boston.com 4.12.16. Fives of minutes. Tens of tens of minutes. Fives and tens of minutes. Different groupings of different increments of time. Time. Sure wish I could turn it back. Not just by a few minutes. Not even tens of them.
Age: Academic and political activist
Dropped out 2 November 2015Gorman, Michele, "Larry Lessig Ends Democratic Presidential Campaign", Newsweek (11/2/15 at 1:32 PM).	Advantages: Campaigning on taking big money out of politics, which red and blue states can get behind. He later decided to run for a full term for the Presidency, with an actual platform to boot: These ideas include humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees, the ending of the War on Drugs, detente with Russia, support for the Cuban Thaw and Iran Deal, a public option for healthcare, and downsizing the military industrial complex.
He would steal 18 votes from Bernie Sanders. Golf clap.
Age: Academic and political activist
Dropped out 2 November 2015Gorman, Michele, "Larry Lessig Ends Democratic Presidential Campaign", Newsweek (11/2/15 at 1:32 PM).	Disadvantages: Jumping into the campaign relatively late wasn't gonna help him. Saying he'd resign immediately after enacting his reforms was a head-scratcher. Later clarified to Bill Maher that he would not resign, which makes his candidacy even stranger.
Age: Former Maryland Governor
Dropped out 1 February 2016	Advantages: The 'Young Gun' of the DMC. Said to be Obama's pick for successor, though this is unlikely, since Obama has not given any statements supporting O'Malley. Advocates for renewable energy over fossil fuels. Prefers a "cooperative" foreign policy, as opposed to unilateralism or humanitarian intervention. Wants Glass-Steagall reinstated. 
Possibly the most effective administrator in this race.Sweetland Edwards, Haley, " Should Martin O’Malley Be President?", Washington Monthly May/une 2013. 
The only person in the race who has been a Democrat throughout his life, as opposed to running for office as an independent (Bernie), or joining a Republican youth group (Hillary). What has this party come to?
Age: Former Maryland Governor
Dropped out 1 February 2016	Disadvantages: His policies as Mayor of Baltimore would ultimately lead to the police murder of Freddie Gray. As anyone who's watched The Wire would understand, O'Malley implemented ridiculously tough anti-crime initiatives, empowered the police in their general thuggery, and cooked the books on gun crimes to make crimes in Baltimore 'disappear', thereby juking the stats on crime.David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish, The Marshall Project, April 29th, 2015 
WSJ had a picture of Clinton, Sanders, and O'Malley with a caption reading, "Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and an unidentified man..." Really summed up all of O'Malley's problems this year. Any hopes he had of waging a successful insurgency on Capitol Hill were snuffed out by Sanders. 
Has the all-important endorsement of...Lyndon LaRouche.Nuzzi, Olivia, "Gee, Thanks: Cult Leader Lyndon LaRouche Hearts Hillary's Hottest Foe", Daily Beast (11.12.15 at 2:10 AM ET).
Bernie SandersAge: Vermont Senator	Advantages: Attracts young voters in a manner similar to you-know-who.Smith, Allan, "BERNIE SANDERS: Almost 7,000 of my supporters just signed up to run for office", Business Insider (6/17/16 at 6:13 PM). Considerable crossover appeal with the Paulbots and even some Trumpets."Ron Paul Says Bernie Sold Out Fed Amendment", The Hill. Supports universal health care, universal voter registration, New Deal-style reform, justice reform, free (or highly subsidized) tertiary education, environmental protection, renewable energy development, and modernization of infrastructure.Landers, Elizabeth, "Offering alternatives to Clinton, '16 Dem hopefuls converge on South Carolina", CNN (Updated 4/25/15 at 7:08 PM ET).Katz, Eric, "What a Bernie Sanders Presidency Would Mean for the Federal Workforce", GoveExec 5.1.15.https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/23/bernie-sanders-heres-what-we-want/
Sanders out-fundraising Hillary is like watching Seabiscuit beat War Admiral. Doesn't accept money (or, rather, doesn't accept much moneyBernie Sanders Contributors 2015-2016, Open Secrets Center for Responsive Politics) from PACs—and thus gets to hammer Clinton with it in every speech and debate. He can play the Washington outsider card pretty well for a senator: While he hasn't passed much legislation, he passed more amendments than almost anyone else, earning the nickname of "amendment king".http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you Sanders earned a reputation of a bipartisan deal maker as Veterans Affairs Committe Chairman.Suzy Khimm, "Congress’s only socialist becomes a bipartisan dealmaker," MSNBC.
Also, he's a Jewish socialist and former carpenter!
Bernie SandersAge: Vermont Senator	Disadvantages: Hired Tad Devine as his strategist. Let's have a look at his electoral victories. Well, that was a short list.Michael Dukakis campaign - Won the primary, lost the general. Al Gore's campaign - Won the primary, lost the general. John Kerry's campaign - Won the primary, lost the general. Hold my beer while I fly to Rome days before the single most important primary to crash the Pope's breakfast.Thomas, Ken, "Pope: Sanders encounter sign of good manners, ‘nothing more’", Seattle Times via Associated Press (4/16/16 at 12:48, updated 4/20/16 at 7:02 am).
While Sanders is certainly popular on the Internet, this may not reflect reality.Greenwald, Glenn, "The “Bernie Bros” Narrative", The Intercept (1/31/16, 5:42 a.m.).Steven Pearlstein, "What Bernie Sanders would do to America," The Washington Post. City slickers will be slow to forgive him for opposing the Brady Bill. He split the Latino vote, but Hillary has the black vote.
Honeymooned (literally) in the USSR,Cabaniss, Will, "George Will describes Bernie Sanders' Soviet Union honeymoon", Politfact (8/12/15 at 10:56 a.m.). though that wasn't the point of the trip. (Speaking of which, Gallup polls indicate that people would more rather elect an LGBT person, a Muslim, or an Atheist for president over a self-described Socialist.)Justin McCarthy (lol), "In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing," Gallup. The majority of the country sees Obama as a tad too liberal and this is a man who complains that Obama isn't liberal enough. As laudable as his economic plan is, voters are skeptical over its feasibility.Dave Johnson, "The Sanders Economic Plan Controversy," Moyers & Company Worse yet, there's not enough party dissatisfaction to vote for a protest candidate.Dana Milbank, "Democrats are too satisfied to feel the Bern," Chicago Tribune. 
When Ralph Nader is accusing you of not being pragmatic enough...Nader, "Bernie, we thought we knew ye!", 3.6.14. He'd much rather just give a speech about how 'things should be'.
Also, he's over 2000 years old.He was older than John McCain was in 2008. If elected, at 75 (on September 8, 2016) he would pass Germany's Konrad Adenauer as the oldest-ever democratically elected world leader. The stress associated with being President means that there is a real chance he could die while in office. Concerns could be alleviated with a strong VP pick if he gets the nomination.
Jim WebbAge: Former Senator from Virginia
Dropped out 20 October 2015 and will maybe run as an IndependentNick Gass and Daniel Strauss, "Jim Webb drops out of Democratic race", Politico (10/20/15 09:57 AM EDT, Updated 10/20/15 01:52 PM EDT).	Advantages: Has fought for reform on drug sentencing, doesn't like Wall Street, prefers a non-interventionist foreign policy, and actually switched parties over the Iraq War.
Jim WebbAge: Former Senator from Virginia
Dropped out 20 October 2015 and will maybe run as an IndependentNick Gass and Daniel Strauss, "Jim Webb drops out of Democratic race", Politico (10/20/15 09:57 AM EDT, Updated 10/20/15 01:52 PM EDT).	Disadvantages: Besides trying to bring a loaded gun into the U.S. Senate? Stating that his career highlight was killing a guy in Vietnam? (Webb: I NEED MORE TIME. Moderator: Very well, Mr. Webb, what would you like to say? Webb: I KILLED A MAN.) Keeping the Confederate battle flag flying on State House grounds?Jim Webb stands alone on the Confederate flag
A blue dog on gun control, affirmative action, immigration, and environmental issues.
===Looked like they were going to run, but declined===
Joe BidenAge: Current President, former Senator from Delaware
Dropped out on October 21stCiting "not enough time to run a campaign"	Advantages: A street fighter, he's entertaining, if gaffe prone. A wealth of domestic and foreign policy experience alternating as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees over many decades. Kept Robert Bork off the high bench. Engineered the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings. Authored the Violence Against Women Act. His credentials as a confirmed feminist are equal to or rival Hillary Clinton. Awesome in debate, e.g. the 2012 VP debate. Hello, 911? There's an old man here beating the crap out of a kid.
Joe BidenAge: Current President, former Senator from Delaware
Dropped out on October 21stCiting "not enough time to run a campaign"	Disadvantages: 72 and not getting any younger. He's kinda insane (on a personal level, not on a policy level) and has a case of "foot-in-mouth" syndrome.In Axelrod's (or Plouffe's) book there's an episode where they go looking for VP in 2008. Biden is quoted saying, even after he agreed to be a VP: "I think I'll be the best president, and I still think so. But only around 1000 people agree with me!" Apparently he stills thinks so. 
Biden is a statesman's statesman but even he brings 40+ years of baggage (plagiarism, etc.), which is why Obama went with Hillary over him. Maybe he picked the wrong successor.Hensch, Mark, "Poll finds Biden beating Trump", The Hill (8/27/15 at 08:45 am).
Joe's further to the right on criminal justice than Hillary, and like her, voted for the Iraq War as a Senator, both of which would have given Bernie more to attack on.Joe Biden's Role in '90s Crime Law Could Haunt Any Presidential Bid, The New York Times, 21 August 2015 He played an influential role in shaping the crime bills of the '90s which helped fuel mass incarceration. Biden was also the senator from Delaware, the state where all US shell companies are incorporated. He's defended this.Wayne, Leslie, "How Delaware Thrives as a Corporate Tax Haven", NYT 6.20.12. Wayne: "...Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., increasingly resembles a freewheeling offshore haven, right on America’s shores. Officials in other states complain that Delaware’s cozy corporate setup robs their states of billions of tax dollars."
Andrew CuomoAge: Governor of New York 	Advantages: Banned fracking and legalized same-sex marriage in New York, but only to score political points.
Andrew CuomoAge: Governor of New York 	Disadvantages: His corruption is unbelievably transparent. He set up an anti-corruption committee that would investigate and report all forms of conflicts of interest, like an actual anti-corruption committee… but when they started investigating his actions, he promptly disbanded the committee. 
Many of his actions as Governor of New York also call into question his party allegiance; he's been a staunch supporter of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of Democratic New York State Senators that caucus with the Republicans, thereby resulting in GOP control of the New York Senate (conveniently preventing any of the progressive legislation that Cuomo claims to support from making it to his desk, where he would have to either sign it and infuriate his donors, or veto it and infuriate his voters) and in his first year as Governor, he signed off on a gerrymandered map favoring Republican candidates put forth by the State Senate.
If you think Clinton's main problem was not being friendly enough with Wall Street, boy is Cuomo the candidate for you!
Elizabeth WarrenAge: Senator from Massachusetts, former Harvard Law Professor	Advantages: A born fighter, Warren's an economic progressive, championing New Deal-style reforms to combat income inequality and rein in Wall Street. Was essentially the key architect behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
She's folksy and down-to-earth, unlike Clinton who often comes across as inauthentic at best.
She'd be able to effectively generate crossover appeal between Clinton and Sanders supporters, by virtue of being a populist who happens to be a woman.
Elizabeth WarrenAge: Senator from Massachusetts, former Harvard Law Professor	Disadvantages: A bit untested at actual governing; she's a freshman Senator, and had only held elected office for 2 years of her life by the time campaigning began.
She underperformed in her 2012 Senate race, winning by only 4% points, despite running in a Presidential Election year in one of the bluest states in the country.
A faux-controversy could easily be manufactured around her claimed Cherokee descent,Many on the Right, including Trump, have derogatorily labeled her "Pocahontas" in a similar manner as Clinton's e-mail scandal.
===Perennial candidates===
Age: Perennial candidate and crank 	Advantages: President Boss. Otherwise, beats me.If you can be bothered, you could check out his platform, a rather, shall we say "mixed bag"...
Age: Perennial candidate and crank 	Disadvantages: President Boss lacks the ring of President Supreme. Even Wikipedia calls him a conspiracy theorist. (He's a truther.)
Vermin SupremeAge: 55-56Performance artist and perennial candidate	Advantages: Would create the interesting situation of having a "President Supreme". 
 Randall Terry. 
If he gets elected he has promised free ponies for all Americans.Granted, that was one of four planks in his 2012 platform, but we assume the offer still stands. The three other planks were zombie preparedness, funding for time travel research, and mandatory and strictly enforced tooth brushing laws.
Vermin SupremeAge: 55-56Performance artist and perennial candidate	Disadvantages: Basically a sort of U.S. parallel to these British guys.You could check out his political courage test from 2012 on Project Vote Smart. Not that you'd be much the wiser.
80pxAge: Former college football coach 	Advantages: Presumably knows something about American football, I guess.
80pxAge: Former college football coach 	Disadvantages: Robby who? Also, switching from trying to run as an independent to taking a shot at the Democratic nomination might not be the ideal start on ingratiating yourself to the party faithful. Not to mention his history of "party shopping" in 2012 where he bounced around from initially wanting to run as an independent, then shacking up with the Reform Party, before jumping ship and trying for the Constitution Party nomination (which he lost to ). If you're bereft of some interesting reading you can always look at his Eaglenomics "plan".Eaglenomics is Wells' term for his rather eclectic (to say the least) plan for a U.S. economic miracle — pretty short on detail (and coherence), though.
==Democratic primary polls==
Clinton v. Sanders was hardly comparable at all to the narrow, bitter fight of 2008. The extent of the attacks was probably the gun control issue. Bernie came up short by 12 points and basically just outperformed in caucus states for his wins, which why the black caucus and Hispanic caucus opposed him.Strauss, Daniel, "Sanders collides with black lawmakers", Politico (06/19/16 04:17 PM EDT).Tysver, Robynn, "Chairman resigns, many Bernie Sanders supporters apologize for 'disrespectful' role in Latino caucus election", Omaha World-Herald (6/23/16 at 12:00 am, updated 1/23/16 at 1:23 pm.) Many of his supporters are new primary voters likely would not have voted if he had not entered the race, meaning he brought many new voters into the democratic process. Many voted for Johnson or Stein as alternativesJoshua Green and Sahil Kapur, "Nearly Half of Sanders Supporters Won't Support Clinton", Bloomberg (7/22/16 at 2:00 AM PDT). and a small number voted for Trump himself.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/10/sanders-supporters-prefer-clinton-to-trump-exclusive-poll.
*Senior citizens prefer to use the early voting process. They were confirmed to be Hillary's secret weapon the moment she stepped into this race. (It's just a matter of Clinton's voters being older and harder to motivate to go spend hours standing around at a caucus.) That gave Bern an advantage in the caucus format, since the lack of the youth vote in 2010 has been cited as a major reason Dems lost the house.ABC/Washington Post News Poll: "A Post- Primary Rally Boosts Trump, Albeit with Challenges Aplenty (5/22/16 at 12:01am. But equally, his base is far more impacted by flaws in voter registration.
*Hillary has never done particularly well in the West: she was shut out of Bernie's home state and spent literally $0.00 in Utah and Idaho. Whistle-stops only. She was conserving resources for the general election. Meanwhile, Sanders, who already had a "home court advantage" of sorts, spent plenty of time and money in the area. 
*As Hawaii goes, so goes...uh, we dunno. Hawaii has high populations of Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans, two demographics that haven't voted in large numbers yet. That's why the results of Hawaii were kind of unpredictable.He also had a more targeted policy game. Two weeks before the primary, he added a policy page for native Hawaiians. Tulsi Gabbard, who is very popular in Hawaii, endorsed and appeared in ads for Sanders. That at least contributed to his success there.
===Did you ever hear of the tragedy of McGovern the Wise?===
Nevada was a garbage fire.Hensch, Mark, "Sanders's Nevada director floated two-sided coins for tiebreaks: report", The Hill (6/27/16 at 9:14 pm). So they conspired to rig a coin toss but didn't realize it was a card cut. This campaign in a nutshell.Bolton, Alexander, "Dems discuss dropping Wasserman Schultz", The Hill (05/24/16 08:30 PM EDT) Clinton loyalist: "“There have been a lot of meetings over the past 48 hours about what color plate do we deliver Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s head on.” The state cut funding for elections, which caused huge lines due to inadequate polling stations. Those glitches hurt Hillary and Bernie both, but since a majority of Clinton supporters chose to vote early, she still won by a large margin; this didn't sit right with Bernie's supporters.Garofalo, Pat, "Caucus Madness", USNews (5/18/16, at 2:15 p.m.). Voters in Arizona have a legitimate claim, and lawsuits have been filed to address this concern.Horwitz, Sari, "Democratic Party, Clinton and Sanders campaigns to sue Arizona over voting rights", WaPo 4.14.16. 
Everything seemed to fall apart in New York. Looking back, Bernie's design flaw was his misunderstanding of the media;Marshall, Josh, "It Comes From the Very Top", TPM (5/18/16, 12:10 AM EDT).] each time he had a chance to strike gold, he missed and went for copper."Don’t Say I Walked Away!" Bernie yells after walking out of four (1 2 3 4) straight interviews. In #4, Sanders flipped out and accused the guy, literally, of being "Wall Street." No joke.
*Sanders waited days to respond after Nevada, even running away from reporters (!) while campaigning in Puerto Rico, before releasing his statement: In it, he concentrated on self-congratulatory stump speeches, and again reiterated allegations of voter suppression.Cillizza, Chris, "This Bernie Sanders statement on the Nevada convention reads like an open threat to the Democratic establishment", WaPo 5.17.16.
*When given a softball question which fits perfectly with his campaign (he was asked to name a specific instance where Hillary changed her vote based on campaign contributions), Bernie whiffed.Schlesinger, Robert, "One Disarming Question", US News (4/14/16 at 11:35 p.m.).
*After coming off his winning streak into the must-win state of NY, his pope "visit" was overshadowed both by his NYPD interviewCillizza, Chris, "This New York Daily News interview was pretty close to a disaster for Bernie Sanders", WaPo 4.5.16. and "Clinton is unqualified" comment, which was a response to what Clinton said on a similar question; he walked back from it, but he fell into that media trap easily.
*In the weeks leading up to California, Hillary's emails should have been at the forefront, but instead Bernie tried to get Trump to debate him.
*The hiring of Comic Book Guy was especially obnoxious, as his attack dog persona and Bernie's "fun grandpa" schtick were oddly mismatched. Had Sanders taken the deal Harry Reid offered him, he could've been the most powerful man in the Senate, but Jeff Weaver flushed that idea. What's left? A quixotic quest to be mildly annoying to Democrats for a month.Haberman, Maggie, "Top Bernie Sanders Aide Rankles Those In and Out of Campaign", NYT (12/29/16 at 12:07 pm ET).Edward-Isaac Dovere and Gabriel Debenedetti, "Inside the bitter last days of Bernie's revolution", Politico (06/07/16 11:26 PM EDT, updated 06/08/16 01:33 AM EDT).
Most of Sanders' staff were let go after his New York loss; they basically had a skeleton crew in California only.Debenedetti, Gabriel, "Sanders' California director leaves campaign", Politico (05/11/16 02:28 PM EDT). All this combative talk implied that Sanders would to do what he promised: have a contested convention in Philadelphia.Hensch, Mark, "Dem senator warns Sanders not to recreate 1968 chaos at convention", The Hill (5/18/16, 03:27 pm)Neidig, Heidi, "Sanders: There will be a contested convention", The Hill (6/4/16 at 04:22 pm).Smith, Allan, "Watch Bernie Sanders' painfully awkward reaction when asked about Obama endorsing Hillary Clinton", Business Insider (6/9/16 at 2:36 PM). For a while the candidates were caught in this awkward dance where they couldn't not show solidarity while simultaneously withholding any official endorsement.Shabad, Rebecca, "Bernie Sanders: It doesn't appear that I'm going to be the nominee'", CBS (6/22/16 at 3:03 PM). Didn't you see him wink? Indictment coming!Flores, Reena, "Bernie Sanders explains why he's still not endorsing Hillary Clinton", CBS (6/24/16 and 9:10 AM). Sanders wanted to cash in his leverage for some party reforms, but that market had already crashed. Nevertheless, Hillary was forced to make some concessions: The DNC Chair (Wasserman-Schultz) usually appoints all 15 members of the platform committee. Instead she picked four, while Bernie picked five.
As of May, there weren't enough delegates left for Sanders to reach the magic number 2383, the minimum required to win the nomination. He waited so long to concedeWager, John, "Bernie Sanders Offers a Concession-style Speech....Without Conceding", Wapo 16 June 2016. that the DNC was plagued by protests and booing from the Bernie delegation for 4 nights straight.
===Accusations of bias===
The DNC claimed to be neutral, while pressuring media surrogates to boost her image with favorable stories while ignoring Sanders.Michael D. Shear and Matthew Rosenberg, "Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign", NYT July 2016.Borchers, Callum, "Emails show Debbie Wasserman Schultz pressured ‘Morning Joe’ — to no avail", WaPo July 2015.
But the bigger story was how they pressured state-level Democrats to host "joint fundraising events" with the DNC and Hillary, ostensibly to benefit those downticket state races.Relevant note: individuals can only contribute a maximum of $2,700 to a single campaign, but they can contribute up to $33,000 to the DNC and $10,000 to each of 32 Democrat state committees. By hosting these "joint" fundraisers, the party solicited checks of up to $356,000 for wealthy donors to sit at the table in these events. Campaign finance records show that they raised tens of millions in those events, deposited into the coffers of local committees in compliance with laws noted above. But those deposits were subsequently transferred directly to Hillary's campaign within a day. 99% of the $61 million raised at those events ended up in Hillary's "Victory fund". It was blatant circumvention of campaign finance law. And those wealthy donors were then "maxed out", meaning that they couldn't contribute to state Democrats in the general election.Kenneth P. Vogel and Isaac Arnsdorf, "DNC sought to hide details of Clinton funding deal", Politico (26 July 2016, 6:32 AM EDT). When Bernie cried foul, they even went as far as calling attention to the fact that Bernie was not Christian prior to key Bible-belt primaries.East, Kristen, "Top DNC staffer apologizes for email on Sanders’ religion", Politico (23 July 2016, 6:15 PM EDT. When all this came to light, staffers took the fall and Wasserman-Shultz took a cushy job on Hillary's campaign staff.
===Delegates won thus far===
As of May, there simply were not enough delegates left for Sanders to reach the magic number 2383, the minimum required in order for a candidate to earn the Democratic Party's nomination. He would have had to gain the support of superdelegates, which was going to be difficult, as he had called them undemocratic for supporting Clinton "against the will of the people"."Bernie is for superdelegates, after he was against them", Daily Kos (5/20/16, 9:21 AM PDT) and was behind in the pledged delegate count. For quite some time, despite mounting pressure for him to drop out, Sanders refused to concede and used his remaining leverage to influence the Democratic Party's platform and legislative agenda, arguing that defeating Trump should not be their only goal at this point.http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/bernie-sanders-speech-fight-convention-hillary-clintonhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-offers-a-concession-style-speech--without-a-concession/2016/06/16/98b68da4-3417-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html
At last count, Hillary Clinton had 2220 pledged delegates while Bernie Sanders has 1831.http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/primary-calendar-and-results.html (These numbers do not count superdelegates as they will not vote until the convention in July, though neither do the pledged delegates.) Note that neither candidate can officially declare the defeat of the other without help from superdelegates. On June 12, Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-endorses-hillary-clinton_us_56e98f60e4b0b25c91841bdd
==Conspiracy theories==
Throughout the course of the 2016 democratic presidential primary, some Sanders supporters claimed that Democratic Party actors preferred Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. While this is a perfectly valid and accurate claim,See accusations of bias. some took the claim too far, theorizing that the Democratic Party establishment and/or the Clinton campaign rigged the primary in favor of Hillary over Bernie. This belief become so popular among the left that now some Democratic Party activists, along with many conservatives, believe the conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party rigged their presidential primary.
===Voter fraud===
Some conspiracy theorists claim that Clinton campaign operatives and Democratic insiders engaged in election fraud, ballot manipulation, and literal election rigging.Thomas. “Clinton Iowa Caucus EXPOSED! Caught committing VOTER FRAUD (Video)”, The Political Insider (2 February 2016 9:12 AM)
The American election system is a mess. It’s handled locally, it’s extremely complex, and it’s grossly underfunded. As a result, the election system is prone to mishaps and errors on behalf of local election officials. These routine snafus are commonplace throughout the electoral system, and they aren’t really evidence of rigging – it’s evidence that the way America conducts its elections is incompetent.Nate Cohn & Toni Monkovic. “Bernie Sanders and Rigged Elections: Sometimes You Just Lose”, New York Times (1 June 2016).Jeff Stein & Matthew Yglesias. “What Bernie Sanders gets right when he says the system is rigged against him”, Vox (24 May 2016, 7:30 AM EDT). 
With regard to the 2016 primary, there’s simply no evidence that these local election officials were Clinton plants or Democratic Party operatives who intentionally sought to engage in voter fraud in order to help Clinton and disadvantage Sanders. 
===Exit polls===
According to Nate Cohn, conspiracy theorists claim that early exits showing Sanders winning states, and the subsequent results showing Clinton winning, was proof that Clinton rigged the primary.Cohn, Nate. “Exit polls, and why the primary was not stolen from Bernie Sanders”, New York Times (27 June 2016).
Conspiracy theorists believe that exit polls are usually accurate, and cherry pick instances in which the exit polls correctly predicted the winner to bolster their assertion. 
The problem lies with the assumption that early exit polls are usually good. In fact, early exits are not a great predictor of the final vote count. Nate Cohn writes that when it comes to exits, there are a lot of sources of polling error – even more than a regular poll. 
According to Cohn, it’s not clear as why the early exits were off, but the most likely reason is that early exits oversampled Sanders voters because younger voters are more likely to fill out exit polls. Since young voters are an overwhelmingly pro-Sanders constituency, exit polls would be biased in favor of Sanders. Thus, part of the systemic polling error originates from an oversampling of younger voters.
===Frontloading===
A disproportionate number of southern states had their primary contests take place near the beginning of the 2016 presidential primary. Since Hillary's strongest support came from southern states, Bernie Sanders supporters claimed that the DNC had deliberately placed these southern states at the beginning of the primary calendar in order to give her an advantage over Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders himself criticized the frontloading of southern states.Frizzel, Sam.Bernie Sanders says that Democratic primary 'distorts history', Time (13 April 2016).
The main problem with this claim is that the DNC did not, and does not have the ability to change the primary calendar. State legislatures have the power to change the primary calendar. In preparation for the 2016 presidential primary, many southern states wanted to place their primaries near the beginning of the primary so they would have more sway in determining the nominee. As a result, southern state legislatures passed legislation moving their state primaries closer to the beginning of the year. These southern state legislatures were dominated by Republicans when they passed this legislation, so if you're going to blame anybody for frontloading the southern states, you'd have to blame GOP-controlled state legislatures, not the Democratic Party.
===Brooklyn voter purge===
Over a hundred thousand Brooklyn voters were purged right before the New York primary. On one hand, voters are generally purged for inactivity. However, purging lots of voters right before a primary is considered unusual, since voter purges generally happen well ahead of voting. In addition, many active voters were improperly purged. AJ Vicens wrote that the purge “handed Hillary Clinton a much-needed win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.”Vicens, AJ. “The Story of the Great Brooklyn Voter Purge Keeps Getting Weirder”, Mother Jones (22 April 2016, 8:22 PM).
*Hillary’s margin of victory was larger than the number of Brooklyn voters who were purged from the rolls. Even if we assume all the purged voters voted for Sanders, Hillary still would’ve won the primary.
*The victims of the voter purge were more likely to be pro-Clinton than pro-Sanders. The type of voters who get purged are inactive voters. Inactive voters are voters who haven’t voted within the last two presidential elections. Since Sanders’ base is predominantly young voters, his supporters are less likely to be affected by the purge, since much of his base’s voters haven’t been voting long enough to skip voting in the last two presidential elections. The demographic composition of inactive voters skews towards older voters, who are more likely to be pro-Clinton. Thus, the voters most likely to be hurt by the purge would be voters who supported Clinton.
*A WNYC report found that the victims of the purge were predominantly Hispanic, a pro-Clinton constituency.Brigid Bergin, John Keefe, & Jenny Ye. “Brooklyn Voter Purge Hit Hispanics Hardest”, WNYC News (21 June 2016). Thus, the purge hurt Hillary more than Bernie.
*Brooklyn was pro-Clinton in the primary, so letting more Brooklyn voters vote would’ve helped Clinton.
In sum, the Brooklyn voter purge probably depressed potential turnout in favor of Clinton, which actually helped Sanders.
===Arizona===
In the Arizona presidential primary, there were egregiously long lines at the polling places. These long lines dissuaded some voters from voting. According to RoseAnn DeMoro, a Sanders supporter, long lines in Arizona was evidence of rigging.DeMoro, RoseAnn. “10 ways the Democratic primary has been rigged from the start”, Salon (30 March 2015, 4:15 AM).
*Latino voters in Maricopa County, AZ, who were most likely to experience long lines, were an HRC-friendly demographic. Why would Dems disenfranchise their own voters?Berman, Ari. “The Democratic primary wasn’t rigged, The Nation (16 June 2016).
*The DNC doesn’t have any control over the polling stations. The state’s secretary of state does. The Republican Secretary of State of Arizona cut the number of polling places in the state, which directly led to long lines.
*There's no evidence that voters dissuaded from long lines would’ve given Sanders a victory in Arizona.
===Closed primaries===
Closed primaries are primaries in which only voters who are registered in a political party are allowed to vote in that primary. In closed primaries during the 2016 democratic presidential primary, registered Democrats were more likely to be pro-Clinton, while independents – who are either affiliated with a minor party, or no party – were more likely to back Sanders. As a result, closed primaries were more friendly to HRC throughout the primary. RoseAnn Demoro, writing for Salon, listed closed primaries as one of the ten reasons why the Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential primary was rigged.
But it was known well ahead of time that these states had closed primaries, and there’s just no evidence that the Democratic party coordinated to make more closed primaries to shut out Sanders voters during the primary without giving Sanders voters enough time to adjust to the rules change.
===Debate scheduling===
Sanders supporters claim that the DNC scheduled the Democratic debates at times that would elicit low ratings. Bernie Sanders' former presidential campaign manager Jeff Weaver claimed in an interview that the debate schedule was rigged.Rutz, David. “Sanders Campaign Manager Rips ‘Egregious’ DNC, Says ‘No Doubt’ Bernie Would Have Beaten Trump”, The Washington Free Beacon (2 November 2017, 5:06 PM).
Political scientist Boris Heersink writes that while it’s possible that DNC staffers scheduled the primary debates with the intention of helping Clinton, there’s no evidence for this claim. In addition, Heersink writes that there’s no evidence that Hillary’s vote margin in the presidential primary can be explained by the timing of the debates.Heersink, Boris. “No, the DNC didn’t rig the democratic primary for Hillary Clinton”, Washington Post (4 November 2017).
==External links==
* Nice bit of Lefty unity happening of late; we can all agree one on thing. - Wait, they're naming the university after her? Because she has "Welsh roots"?
==See also==
*2016 Republican Party presidential nomination - 2016 truly is sui generis.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:2016 US presidential election
Category:U.S. Presidential campaigns
Category:The Clintons
Category:Conspiracy theories