[rad-green] 'You'll See Rebellion': Sanders Supporters Denounce Open Threats by Superdelegates to Steal Nomination

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/27/youll-see-rebellion-sanders-supporters-denounce-open-threats-superdelegates-steal
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/27/youll-see-rebellion-sanders-supporters-denounce-open-threats-superdelegates-steal>Common
Dreams          February 27, 2020'You'll See Rebellion': Sanders Supporters
Denounce Open Threats by Superdelegates to Steal Nomination"The Democrats
might be able to stop Sanders, but in doing so they would destroy their
party's own electoral prospects."by Jake Johnson, staff writer*

*Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) addresses
his supporters at a campaign rally at the Charleston Area Convention Center
in South Carolina on February 26, 2020. (Photo: Paul Hennessy/Echoes
Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)*

Nearly 100 Democratic superdelegates told
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/democratic-superdelegates.html>
 the *New York Times* in interviews this week that if Sen. Bernie Sanders
does not arrive at the party's 2020 convention in July with a majority of
pledged delegates, they are willing to thwart the will of the plurality of
primary voters—and potentially risk damaging Democrats' chances of
defeating President Donald Trump—in order to stop Sanders from winning the
nomination.

"If Bernie gets a plurality and nobody else is even close and the
superdelegates weigh in and say, 'We know better than the voters,' I think
that will be a big problem."
—Rep. Pramila Jayapal

"In a reflection of the establishment's wariness about Mr. Sanders," the
*Times* reported
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/democratic-superdelegates.html>
Thursday
morning, "only nine of the 93 superdelegates interviewed said that Mr.
Sanders should become the nominee purely on the basis of arriving at the
convention with a plurality, if he was short of a majority."

The superdelegates, many of whom are current elected officials, are
"willing to risk intraparty damage to stop his nomination at the national
convention in July if they get the chance," the *Times* reported.

"If he doesn't have a majority, it stands to reason that he may not become
the nominee," Jay Jacobs, the New York State Democratic Party chairman,
said of Sanders, who has won the popular vote in the first three states of
the Democratic primary race.

Osita Nwanevu, political columnist for *The New Republic*, suggested the
*Times* headline could be written another way:

Democratic Leaders Willing to Lose the Election to Stop Bernie Sanders
pic.twitter.com/HhK2FDqkwB <https://t.co/HhK2FDqkwB>

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) February 27, 2020
<https://twitter.com/OsitaNwanevu/status/1233012194234818561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Under the current convention rules, if Sanders does not arrive in Milwaukee
with at least 1,991 pledged delegates (just over 50 percent of the total),
the convention will go to a second round in which superdelegates and all
3,979 pledged delegates will be free to vote for any candidate they choose.

As *Common Dreams* reported
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/19/sanders-alone-debate-stage-say-candidate-most-votes-should-get-nomination-convention>,
Sanders was the only Democratic presidential hopeful on the debate stage in
Las Vegas last week to say the candidate with the most votes at the
convention should become the party's nominee.

"The will of the people should prevail," said Sanders. "The person who has
the most votes should become the nominee."

"If that's what our party leaders are going to do, you'll see rebellion not
just in the presidential race, but in down-ballot races as well."
—Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party

Progressives warn that nominating a candidate other than Sanders if the
senator wins a plurality of delegates would have nightmarish consequences
for the Democratic Party come November.

"If Bernie gets a plurality and nobody else is even close and the
superdelegates weigh in and say, 'We know better than the voters,' I think
that will be a big problem," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who
endorsed Sanders for president.

Jane Kleeb, chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party who endorsed
Sanders in 2016, told the *Times* that party leaders "shouldn't be
second-guessing voters."

"If that's what our party leaders are going to do," warned Kleeb, "you'll
see rebellion not just in the presidential race, but in down-ballot races
as well."

According to the *Times*, Democratic superdelegates are casting about for a
"savior candidate" who is not currently in the 2020 race, floating an array
of names including former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Chris Coons
(D-Del.), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who said
<https://thehill.com/homenews/house/484699-pelosi-confirms-that-shed-be-comfortable-with-sanders-at-top-of-ticket>
Wednesday
that she would be comfortable with Sanders at the top of the ticket.

"At some point you could imagine saying, 'Let's go get [Virginia Sen.] Mark
Warner, Chris Coons, Nancy Pelosi,'" Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) told the *Times*.
"Somebody that could win and we could all get behind and celebrate."

The *Times* reporting comes just two days before the South Carolina
Democratic primary, a contest the party establishment views as a key
opportunity
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/25/air-desperation-says-sanders-campaign-democratic-establishment-launches-all-out>
to
slow Sanders' momentum heading into Super Tuesday, when 1,357 delegates are
up for grabs.

*New York Magazine*'s Eric Levitz tweeted
<https://twitter.com/EricLevitz/status/1233017900350525445> that the
superdelegates' on-the-record commitment to thwarting Sanders at the
convention "enables Bernie to credibly tell voters after Super Tuesday,
'You can either deliver me a majority, or vote for someone else and ensure
our party has a huge ugly fight this summer.'"

"Given his approval rating," Levitz added, "I think that's a winning
argument."

(Of course the viability of this argument is conditional on Sanders
amassing a large delegate lead on Super Tuesday, something that appears
likely at this point but not guaranteed)

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) February 27, 2020
<https://twitter.com/EricLevitz/status/1233018813291036677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

In a column
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/25/bernie-sanders-democrats-brokered-convention>
 for *The Guardian* on Tuesday, *Current Affairs* editor and outspoken
Sanders supporter Nathan Robinson argued that a brokered convention would
be a "disaster" for the Democratic Party.

"Millions of Sanders supporters would be enraged at having the nomination
snatched from them and might defect to a third party," wrote Robinson.
"Even those who did support a nominee they considered illegitimate would do
so only grudgingly."

"The Democrats might be able to stop Sanders, but in doing so they would
destroy their party's own electoral prospects," Robinson added. "It would
be a completely reckless and irrational maneuver, and every sensible
Democrat should oppose it."

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