Hillary Clinton’s victory over Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses Saturday has media once again suggesting that her bid for the Democratic nomination is “inevitable.”
“This win is hugely important to her because she can now run the score. Now Sanders still has to go win someplace with a diverse electorate in a primary situation to sort of puncture this air of inevitability, which is now back with Hillary Clinton,” said MSNBC’s Chuck Todd.
CNN contributor Van Jones added elsewhere, “Bernie Sanders now has to go back to the drawing board. Hillary Clinton delivered a body blow to the rebellion.
“Bernie Sanders needs to either beat her or tie for the rebellion to grow,” he added. “Hillary Clinton delivered a body blow to the rebellion in this party.”
Clinton won six counties in Nevada, and tied two with the independent Vermont senator. Sanders won eight counties.
Speaking to supporters after media declared her the clear winner, Clinton said, “Americans are right to be angry. But we’re also hungry for real solutions.”
“It can’t be just about what we’re going to give to you, it has to be what we’re going to build together,” she added. “Your generation is the most tolerant, and connected our country has ever seen. In the days ahead we will propose new ways for more Americans to get involved in national service and give back to our communities because everyone of us has a role to play in building the future we want,” she added.
Clinton’s campaign has been dogged for weeks by the scandal surrounding her use of an unauthorized, private email server when she was secretary of state.
Though Clinton and her team maintain that they never sent or received classified information over the private server, federal investigators have uncovered emails containing top secret information.
Clinton also suffered a devastating loss to Sanders in the Democratic New Hampshire primary, losing by more than 20 points.
Coupled with her falling poll numbers, her email woes, her defeat in New Hampshire and Sanders unexpected surge, many in media have questioned whether Clinton would actually be the Democratic Party nominee after all.
But after her triumph over Sanders in Nevada, some in the press now feel that Clinton has again regained control of her once “inevitable” path to the party’s nomination (though not everyone in media seems to agree with this idea).
“This is a big turning point,” Todd said. “You can call it a sigh of relief, whatever you want to call it. This is a big deal, her narrowly eking out a win, no matter the size.”
“With Sanders, this was his best shot at puncturing the balloon that he can’t win in diverse states,” he added.
His MSNBC colleague, Chris Matthews, added in a separate note of analysis, “Hillary Clinton put together a great organization. She has done many times before to make things happen and that included the working people here… You saw democracy in action.”
Bloomberg News reported elsewhere that the Democratic front-runner’s success in Nevada, “clearly shifts the burden for the next win from Clinton to Sanders, now forcing him to prove he has staying power in more ethnically and geographically diverse states.”
