Sanders’ SC backers not ready to give up

Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday, but Shawn Crowe hasn’t given up on Bernie Sanders.

Crowe, of Forest Acres, plans to picket the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer, hoping to sway super-delegates.

“We’re going up there to be seen,” said Crowe, 50. “Hopefully, with the super-delegates wondering what to do, perhaps they’ll look out a window and see tens of thousands of people outside that window that are demanding change.

“That’s the hope, anyway.”

Despite Tuesday’s primary results, Sanders’ S.C. supporters still hold out hope the U.S. senator from Vermont will win the Democratic presidential nomination.

But, for most, optimism has worn thin.

Clinton’s victories don’t give her the 2,382 delegates, bound by primary or caucus results, required to secure the nomination. But the first woman to win a major U.S. political party’s presidential nomination has support from enough super-delegates to push her over the top.

Sanders’ S.C. backers are quick to point out those super-delegates — most now supporting Clinton — are free to change their minds at any time before they vote at the Democrats’ late July convention.

The hope, they say, is Clinton’s campaign implodes before the convention – a federal indictment over her email use might do the trick, some say – or super-delegates will flip to Sanders at the 11th hour.

“The super-delegates, they need to do what’s good for the party,” said Crowe, one of a dozen or so Sanders supporters who meet weekly at the Flying Saucer in Columbia’s Vista. “Right now, we’re making the argument that the best thing they can do for the party is to elect the best person who can beat Donald Trump.”

Sanders’ supporters say he is better suited to face the presumptive GOP nominee than Clinton. Polls show Sanders leading Trump by 10 percentage points versus Clinton’s 2-point lead.

“Those super-delegates, they’re party people,” said Nicole Hazard, a Boiling Springs resident who said she still puts Sanders’ chances of clinching the nomination at 99 percent. “They want the party to win.”

Lawrence Moore, the former political director for Sanders’ S.C. campaign, isn’t as optimistic. Politics is about relationships and Clinton won’t likely lose a critical number of the super-delegates now pledged to her, he said.

“I don’t see it happening unless something tragic happens with the (former) secretary’s candidacy,” said Moore, one of two Democratic primary challengers to state Rep. Jimmy Bales for the House 80 seat in Lower Richland.

Cass Tyson of Greenville, who supports Sanders, agreed.

“Unless she implodes through an indictment or some other scandal, they’ll never give up on her,” Tyson said. “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

Tyler Jones, a Democratic political consultant who supports Clinton, said he expects Sanders to continue campaigning as long as crowds follow him and he can afford it. Sanders can keep himself in contention for a vice presidential spot or a Cabinet post in a Clinton administration by prolonging his candidacy, Jones said.

“As long as he has the money to compete, there is no reason for him to get out,” Jones said. “All you’re left with is a bank account full of cash and nowhere to spend it.”

Jones and S.C. Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison say they aren’t worried the drawn-out nomination fight will hurt Clinton’s odds in the Nov. 8 general election.

In 2008, Clinton waited until four days after the California primary to drop out of her contest against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, they recalled, but Obama went on to defeat Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain anyway.

“That is a great playbook,” said Harrison, a super-delegate pledged to Clinton, who won South Carolina’s February primary in 74-26 rout over Sanders. “Democrats would be smart to adhere to it, particularly given who the opposition is. Donald Trump is no John McCain. He is much scarier.”

Sanders’ candidacy remains important even if he doesn’t win, his S.C. supporters say.

Sanders’ supporters can shape the party platform at the July convention, pushing for universal healthcare, a ban on fracking and the removal of big money from politics, they say.

“This thing is not even about Bernie Sanders,” Crowe said. “It’s about a political revolution, as he calls it. It’s about people waking up and being aware that the system, as it works right now, does not represent our interests.”

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Sanders’ SC backers not ready to give up."