By Aly Kamadia, Editor-In-Chief of iDose

Yelling with the breath of victory, Bernie Sanders supporters celebrated in New Hampshire on Tuesday night as his campaign claimed the majority of votes.

“Let me say tonight, that this victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump,” Sanders proclaimed confidently.

His speech was authoritative. And the Senator had transformed into a symbol and virtually even a prophet for his most adamant supporters.

Though even as he claimed the majority of votes in the first two States of Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders was all too sober about the challenges that lied in any path to victory. His enemies were watching on full alert.

Whether it was the (former) Mayor of a town with a population smaller than the number of people living on your street, a Billionaire (former) Mayor of New York, or a Political and Business elite that despised Sanders, contemporary American political history had never seen an election like this. Thus I offered responses to some of the questions that I’d received leading up to the moment…

What are the number of “Pledged Delegates” needed for a clear majority?

Without getting into the technicalities, each State awards a given number of ‘pledged delegates’ based on its final voting results. In order to gain a decisive victory for the entire process, a candidate must claim more than 50% of pledged delegates all over the country. This will crown them as the Democratic nominee that faces Trump in November. The number of pledged delegates needed for this decisive victory is 1990.

How many Pledged Delegates have been awarded so far (i.e. in Iowa and New Hampshire)?

65

Sixty five and a candidate needs 1990 to win? Why is the media going so nuts already?

Well broadcast media make tons and tons of money from viewership. Some prime time TV hosts make more than $30 000 PER NIGHT, so you can only imagine how much the executives and company are raking in. So they’re bound to go nuts and do everything possible to keep us watching.

That said, it is indeed a contest to potentially claim the most powerful political office in human history.

And while 65 delegates represent less than 2% of the total pledged delegates up for grabs, the first two states are known for giving momentum and a glimpse of the race.

As an example, Pete Buttigieg’s surprising results in Iowa arguably solidified a strong second place finish in New Hampshire. Amy Klobuchar’s strong third place finish in New Hampshire gives her an opportunity to deliver a much stronger fundraising sales pitch. Lord knows she needs the money given that she doesn’t really have a national campaign up and running.

Does Sanders have ‘enemies’, or is that just rhetoric?

That Sanders has ‘enemies’ is an accurate framing.

He’s calling out some of the most powerful people in the United States (US; and others) while vowing to slightly increase their taxes. He has an ambition of making the richest country in human history a place where citizens are offered health care as a human right (as in every other advanced economy), tuition free college and a number of other things we associate with the word “civilization”.

Many, though certainly not all of the super-wealthy, can’t stand the very thought of any of their money being touched by ‘Big Government’ for such horrific purposes. Though the relevant people have had absolutely no problem in sending armies of lobbyists to get that very same ‘Big Government’ to work in their favor. Thanks to their success, policies and law have been crafted to make them immensely rich at the expense of everyone else. That’s been going on for about four decades and the evidence is irrefutable.

And it appears that many who have immensely benefited from the status quo have no intention of changing it (surprise surprise).

What are some immediate threats to Sanders?

Pete Buttigieg is certainly a threat to Sanders’ candidacy. While he lacks a CV that shows he has any business running for the most powerful political office in human history, his campaign has been impressive. He’s got at least 40 Billionaires backing him. And leading up to this, he’s basically been whispering to them, ‘hey, I’m not like Warren or Sanders, I won’t touch any of your money’.

Then you’ve got Mike Bloomberg. He has spent about $350 in the last two months or so, mainly on political advertisements. And the only reason he’s a candidate, and might be able to run as a third party candidate, is because US laws have allowed for this kind of corrupting influence in politics.

In fact, as another article in iDose this week indicates, Bloomberg could spend $100 MILLION DOLLARS EVERY SINGLE DAY until now and the election (November), and he’d still be worth $30 Billion and be among the top 30 richest people on this planet.

The other threats are the many elites operating in the dark. They usually operate like that as most don’t treasure the limelight. Both political and business elites are doing and going to continue to do everything to stop Sanders (or Warren).

What happened to Elizabeth Warren? Didn’t you say that she should be the clear choice?

Yes. And I still maintain that she’s the clear choice, as far as voting for the most rational choice is concerned. But one shouldn’t mistake that for any claim that we live in any such rational world. (In fact, if we lived in a world that even approximated a notable degree of rationality, the world would look much different, but I’ll try to stick to the question.)

She placed fourth in New Hampshire without picking up any delegates, which was clearly a bad night. It wasn’t as horrible as racing out of the State before the results were even announced, like Joe Biden did. But it was still far from ideal.

Moving forward, Biden will get knocked out for all practical purposes if he doesn’t start performing extremely well. And Warren’s going to have to put up some impressive victories if she wants to remain relevant.

I’ll offer four quick notes to wrap up:

1. While I’ve noted Warren as my clear first choice, I noted Sanders as my second, given he was the only alternative offering systemic change.

2. In the hypothetical scenario that Sanders wins, he’d be well served to choose Warren as his Vice Presidential nominee. After all, in the event that something most unfortunate were to happen to any sitting president, it’s the Vice President who automatically becomes President. 

3. Keep Super Tuesday and the month of March in mind. On Tuesday March 3^rd (‘Super Tuesday’), an astounding 34% of pledged delegates are up for grabs. And by the end of March, roughly two thirds of the pledged delegates will have been awarded. So the next few weeks are pivotal.

Lastly, I want to make it clear that any Democratic nominee would be infinitely better than Trump. Though I sincerely hope that the future nominee works with reality as it presents itself. Leaders will find much more wisdom in the work of astute philosophers that lived once upon a time, rather than many of the overpriced consultants that excessively infect too many campaign war rooms.

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Aly Kamadia is Editor-In-Chief of iDose. To read more articles by Kamadia, click here. To read the Editor’s message, click here.