And Pete was dead when he came in behind Biden in NV
Had he come in ahead of Biden he might have had a chance to do a bit better in SC but when he got that blown out it was over
I think it's pretty clear, the center of the Democratic Party is bigger than the the left on election night. The left can only win by pulling new voters.
The left (Bernie, EW) has more passionate and committed voters. That's reflected online and in small donations.
The center has more big money donors.
The left can still only win if there are enough central candidates to split the vote.
We disagree on whether Biden had an overwhelming victory or if it was a case of everyone else deciding to drop out because Bernie was a threat.
Pete and Amy never had a chance to win on their own unless all of the other moderates dropped out. Their only viable pathways were brokered conventions.
Bernie was never getting above 35 or 40%, so his only chance was to get the majority of the delegates with a plurality of the voters (or close enough that it would have been difficult for the party not to pick him). He needed a bunch of folks to be sticking around while getting 14 or 15 percent and to be able to build the perception of inevitability.
538 still had no one receiving the majority of the delegates as the overwhelmingly most likely outcome before Pete and Amy dropped out together and Biden with only a slim chance of winning a majority. I don't see how that is him wiping the floor, it looks a lot more like a brokered convention pre-convention to me. Nothing wrong with that, I just don't think it is an indicator that Biden is a strong candidate or that he has a lot of support. I think he's weaker than HRC was in 2016, and Trump is stronger. The real hope is if the left takes this election more seriously (and it is allowed to take place honestly).
