Looking Back on Sanders's Campaign Missteps

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Patrick Healy and Yamiche Alcindor, Missteps Seen as a Drag on Sanders Bid. New York Times, Apr 4, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/0 ... illary-clinton.html

Quote:

"Mr [Bernie] Sanders is now campaigning more effectively than many expected, exposing Mrs Clinton's weaknesses as a candidate * * * But allies and advisers of Mr Sanders say they missed opportunities to run an aggressive political operation in 2015 that would have presented more of a challenge to Mrs. Clinton. She has now firmly built a big lead in delegates needed to clinch the nomination

"And he insisted on devoting time to his job as a senator from Vermont last year rather than matching Mrs Clinton's all-out effort to capture the nomination.

"All those decisions stemmed in part from Mr. Sanders’s outlook on the race. He was originally skeptical that he could beat Mrs Clinton, and his mission in 2015 was to spread his political message about a rigged America rather than do whatever it took to win the nomination. By the time he caught fire with voters this winter and personally began to believe he could defeat Mrs. Clinton, she was already on her way to building an all but insurmountable delegate lead.

"In Iowa, Mr Sanders campaigned slightly more than Mrs. Clinton — but he also had far more work to do there, having started the campaign 40 points behind her in polls. He waited to run campaign advertisements there until late fall, preferring to save his resources instead.

Mr Sanders "was disheartened with the Feb 20 caucuses in Nevada, where he lost by five points. In an interview, he said he had strong support from voters there but — because of time, resources or other factors — his campaign could not turn them out.

"Since then {Nevada loss], Mr Sanders has been campaigning virtually full time and has gone on to win 14 states — including an upset victory in Michigan — to Mrs. Clinton’s 18 states.

"In October * * * Mr Sanders's advisers urged him to challenge Mrs Clinton over accepting $675,000 from Goldman Sachs for delivering three speeches, according to two Sanders advisers. * * * Only in mid-January did Mr. Sanders change his mind, when news broke that Goldman Sachs had escaped harsh penalties for its role in the financial crisis. * * * By then, it was too late to make a big difference. He lost narrowly [in Iowa caucus].

Note: 2016 presidential campaign schdule:
Feb 1 Iowa caucus-->Feb 9 New Hampshire primary-->Feb 20  S Carolina primary (Republican only) AND Nevada caucus (Democratic only) )--> Feb 23 Nevada caucus (R only)--> Feb 27 (Saturday) S Carolina primary (D only)--> Mar 1 Super Tuesday