Can Bernie Put This Thing to Bed on Tuesday?

1. Bernie Sanders

How big a delegate lead can he post?

Sanders didn’t get the sort of blowout wins in either Iowa or New Hampshire that would send Democrats in D.C. panic-vomiting out their townhouse windows. But after Sanders’ dominating performance in the Nevada caucuses last week, the sidewalks of our nation’s capital are becoming entirely unwalkable. There’s no denying that Sanders is not just the front-runner but the front-runner nearing escape velocity, and his bruising treatment in this week’s South Carolina debate was reflective of that. The good news for those hoping to contain Sanders’ trajectory is that he’s not seeing a post-Nevada bounce in South Carolina polling this week—if anything, he’s ticked down a notch. That’s helpful to the cause of Bernie Sanders not effectively sewing up the nomination on Super Tuesday, three days later. But is it enough? The number to watch on Tuesday night—or whenever the California ballots roll in—is what Sanders’ delegate margin looks like. If it’s 100 or 200, the nomination will remain competitive. If it’s, say, 400, it’s going to be awfully difficult for any candidate to make up the ground later. Also: Anti-Bernie Democrats still need a … what’s the thing called … a “candidate”? Yes, that’s the word. They need a “candidate” around whom to unite and invest their anti-Bernie energies, rather than six or seven loser chuckleheads hanging around and splitting the vote.

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