Bernie Faltering?

It has been a tough few weeks for Bernie Sanders. Before the debate, his numbers were soaring, his crowds were growing, and there was a palpable and almost arrogant sense of confidence among his supporters and inside his organization where they talked magnanimously about considering Hillary Clinton for the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. But since that night in Las Vegas, things have changed and as Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg reports, while the:

… senator’s impressive, populist campaign has featured massive crowds, double-digit leads in New Hampshire, competitive contrasts with Clinton in Iowa, and steady growth in national surveys … an analysis of the most recent polling numbers show that the self-described democratic socialist may already have peaked.

And maybe so.  But Sanders does not, evidently, plan on going quietly.  As Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas of the AP report

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing an aggressive push to regain ground in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, combining a series of ads, policy speeches and appearances before key groups of voters in a bid to ignite his challenge to front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A big question here is … how tough will he get.  Ms. Clinton, as is known by all, has what are known in the trade as “high negatives,” and

… is far from a locking up the nomination. Many in a focus group of undecided Democratic women — so-called “Walmart moms”— held in Des Moines this week questioned her trustworthiness and loyalty, describing her as “shady,” ”shifty” and “sold out.”
“They still have objections,” said Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster who helped organize the event. “There are some obstacles for her to get past.”

Sanders will soon need to decide how much he wants to take advantage of those obstacle.  He did, after all, give her that pass on her “damned e-mails.”

Related Content