2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Iowa Democrats worry Bernie Sanders couldn't win a general election or tame Washington [View all]bigtree
(86,008 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 30, 2015, 10:40 AM - Edit history (1)
....from the concerns and observations you raised, there's isn't anything Democrats can do to stop republicans from obstructing, except get them voted out of office.
The way to make that happen is to marginalize the republican opposition by rallying voters around your candidate's agenda. That's what these campaigns are all about, elevating issues to a national level of focus and debate. Once voters have something more concrete than just a beauty pageant to rally behind, they can choose the candidate who they believe will best represent those interests and concerns in office.
This is the point in a Sanders candidacy, as much as it makes all candidacies relevant at this stage. The party and the pols are strengthened by the voter support they attract for the issues they represent and promote, and that support can be adopted by the eventual nominee to their advantage in the general election.
There is little to gain in narrowing the field, at this point, before voters have a chance to watch the candidates interact in debate - everything to lose if our Democratic appeal doesn't manage to at least cover the very reasonable and mainstream breadth of our own party's nominees' political constituencies.