Elections

Listen to “‘Alarm Bells Are Going Off in Democratic Circles'” on Spreaker.

As the Democratic presidential race looks ahead to the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, the South Carolina primary a week after that, and Super Tuesday just three days later, the fight for the nomination is quickly picking up momentum and rank and file Democrats are increasingly concerned that avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders is on track to become the party’s standard bearer against President Trump.

Sanders narrowly won the popular vote in Iowa and New Hampshire and is a close second to Pete Buttigieg in the delegate race. But with several Democrats crowded in the non-Bernie lane, Sanders appears well positioned to pick up a lot of delegates over the next couple of weeks and beyond.

Democrats are very worried that a Sanders nomination would all but guarantee another four years for President Trump.

“Alarm bells are going off in Democratic circles. There’s no question about it,” said Larry Haas, who served as spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton and as communications director for Vice President Al Gore.

“And after last night and the view that Michael Bloomberg did not do as well as expected and that Bernie Sanders seemed to have a pretty clear field last night, other than some minor critiques of him, has only raised the alarm bells even more,” said Haas.

Listen to the full podcast to hear why Haas and many other Democrats believe Sanders is incapable of defeating President Trump, what Democrats think of Bloomberg and his big spending in this campaign, where the party lines up on the question of capitalism vs. socialism, and whether he believes the non-Bernie vote can consolidate around a single alternative.