Democrats have had a similar nightmare scenario. It is the thought that Bernie Sanders might run as an Independent if he doesn't win the Democratic nomination. Although he trails Hillary Clinton by a significant margin, he does have a lot of hardcore supporters -- and it's not unimaginable that they would abandon the Democratic Party to support him as an Independent.
Fortunately (for Democrats), that's not going to happen. Speaking in Washington last Thursday, Sanders said he would not run as an Independent if he doesn't win the Democratic nomination. Here is what he said:
“I would not want to be responsible for electing some right-wing Republican president.”
“As I was contemplating what I’d do, one decision I had to make was, there were a lot of people telling me to run as an Independent. They said the Republican Party is an extreme right-wing party, and the Democratic Party is too conservative, too cozied-up to big money … and that I should run outside of the two party system.”
“I thought about it. But I reached the decision … that the only way at this particular moment in history that we could run an effective campaign was within the Democratic primary and caucus system.”
Although I support Hillary Clinton for the nomination, regular readers of this blog will know that I have an immense amount of respect for Bernie Sanders. I think the senator from Vermont is one of the two best senators we have in Washington -- and this decision of his has just heightened my respect for him (something I didn't think was possible).
Bernie Sanders will support the nominee of the Democratic Party, even if it is not him. He knows how important it is to keep an extremist Republican out of the White House in 2016. I hope his supporters (especially the die-hard "Hillary-haters" among them) have the same love for this country that Sanders does. I hope they understand that he is right, and we must unify behind the winner of the nomination to defeat the Republican candidate. It's just too important to stay home (or vote third-party) this time.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not asking any supporter of Bernie Sanders to abandon his candidacy. I think all Democrats and progressives should vote their conscience and support the candidate of their choice -- and if you support Sanders, that is fine. But once the nomination is settled, it won't be a time for sour grapes. This election is just too important.
(The image of Bernie Sanders above is by DonkeyHotey.)
After Ralph Nader, I'm not sure how many liberals would actually think it was okay to vote for a third party candidate -- at least in a swing state. But I'm not at all surprised by Sanders. People may want to paint him as a radical or ideologue, but he's actually a pretty pragmatic guy. The best thing about him (and this may be Sanders' main reason for running) is that he's getting the liberal base motivated. If we want the Democratic Party to be more liberal, that's what needs to happen: we need to work at the lowest levels of the party to take control -- doing the usual, boring, day-to-day work of politics.
ReplyDeleteAs for Trump, I know that an independent campaign might hurt the Republicans on the margins -- as Ralph Nader did to the Republicans in 2000. But it wouldn't be like Ross Perot in 1992. Perot really did appeal to the center. I suspect that most Republican base voters would grudgingly decide the best thing was to stick in the Republican Party. But as we know, even 1.6% can swing an election.