Here's an interesting scenario to think about:

[MineralMan]

On March 4, imagine the delegate count results looking something like this:

Sanders - 26%
Biden - 22%
Bloomberg - 18%
Buttigieg - 12%
Warren - 10%

What then? If you think that's far-fetched, think again. It could easily happen.

Now, suppose those results stayed about the same through the next rounds of primaries, right up to the convention. What happens then?

Here's my guess:

Bloomberg withdraws and hands his delegates over to Biden, maybe thinking about being Treasury Secretary. Now, Biden is at 40%

Buttigieg does the same, also being considered for a cabinet post, bringing Biden's delegate count to 52%.

Warren? Well, who knows? But, even if she handed off her delegates to Sanders, Biden would still have a majority of delegates. However, she'd be a great choice as a progressive VP, so, maybe she rolls her delegates over to Biden, bringing his majority up to 62%.

You can come up with other scenarios, but remember Bloomberg. If he's third, he's going to withdraw and hand over his delegates to Biden, I guarantee. It's going to be difficult.

[Rider3]

1. He'll win again...

through cheating and Putin's help. We need to take back the Senate, keep the House, and overrule the POS sitting in the White House.

[leftieNanner]

3. I agree with you that Putin has his fingers in our election

And I hope that doesn't mean that he can control our Senate choices as well. I'm not fully convinced that Putin didn't shift those same states' Senate elections too in 2016. Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania?

[HarlanPepper]

2. Why not? Seems as plausible as anything else.

This is shaping up to be a weird year.

[Mike 03]

4. That is quite clever:

Bloomberg withdraws and hands his delegates over to Biden, maybe thinking about being Treasury Secretary. Now, Biden is at 40%

Until recently, I believed Bloomberg was not in this to win. I think he could take it or leave it, as long as he could stomach the nominee. So I see this as very plausible.

Very interesting to think about.

[PatSeg]

5. Very interesting scenario

and entirely possible. I can picture Bloomberg handing his delegates to Biden and yes, I can see him wanting to be Treasury Secretary.

Buttigieg doing the same seems very likely as well.

[MarcA]

6. What methodology did you use in arriving at these numbers?

How can you guarantee Bloomberg would/could hand his delegates to Biden
if he finishes third?

[MineralMan]

11. My imagination, along with the current trend in polling.

You can come up with something different, I'm sure.

[MarcA]

14. No. Thought you had some real analysis.

[MineralMan]

15. I do. You just don't like it.

[Laelth]

7. I don't think that Bloomberg is handing his delegate votes to anybody. n/t

-Laelth

[highplainsdem]

8. Interesting scenario! Thanks!

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Could very well happen.

Still think it will be a brokered Convention with either Biden or Warren as choice.

[ibegurpard]

10. If this happens

Everyone who can't stand Biden needs to find something about him that they like and and everyone who hates Bernie needs to figure out how to make nice with all of the Bernie supporters and "far-leftists" they've been trashing for the past four years.

[thesquanderer]

12. In that scenario, it might be Biden dropping out rather than Bloomberg.

If Biden is trailing Sanders after Super Tuesday, Biden could have trouble fundraising. (Actually, that could happen even sooner, if Biden doesn't win SC.) Point being, Biden could drop out because of money problems, and Bloomberg doesn't have that concern.

[MineralMan]

13. Well, you could switch the positions and put Biden on top.

I think that's equally likely, really. However, Bloomberg is going to continue to go up, I'm pretty sure.

Or, you could switch Biden and Bloomberg in that list.

I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. It's fun to create scenarios, though, as long as they have some semblance of likelihood. It's a complicated primary season, isn't it?