Politics '16: Is Hillary Clinton Getting Berned?

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While Republicans are going through the grief process in accepting Donald Trump as their 2016 standard-bearer, Hillary Clinton is counting the days (and the delegates) until the Democrats anoint her as their presidential nominee.  In fact, she's already getting started in bashing Trump over several issues including gun control and how a bully shouldn't be allowed a pulpit, as she put it.

Not so fast, Hillary.  Coming down the backstretch is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who's been dismissed by the media (including blogs like this one), the Democratic Party and anyone who has a brain.

Sanders has won almost as many states' primaries and caucuses as Clinton, but the delegate count currently favors the former Secretary of State.  According to CNN, Clinton has 2297 delegates (including superdelegates), and needs 86 more to win the nomination.  Sanders has 1527 delegates, and needs 856 more.

Sanders is still fighting the good fight against Wall Street and the big money that's been dominating politics.  But lately, the attacks against Clinton and the Democrats have gotten a lot more personal and sometimes violent.  The Sanders campaign has accused the Democratic National Committee of not only rigging the debates, but also in the use of superdelegates (mainly party regulars) to favor Clinton.  They have also called for the removal of committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is also a Florida congresswoman and allegedly in the tank for Clinton.

But some of Sanders' supporters, who are as fervent as any, have turned to Trump-like tactics to express their displeasure with what's going on.  In Nevada recently, the Democrats' state convention was marred by chair-throwing, Senator Barbara Boxer of California getting booed and fearing for her life, and alleged death threats to the state's party chair.  All that over party officials' refusal to change its rules to accommodate Sanders.  The Senator has since come out and deplored the ruckus his supporters have been causing, but it didn't sound all that convincing.

So how's all this affecting Clinton?  By failing to put away the nomination like Trump did with his own party, she's lost her double-digit leads in the national polls, which now show a dead heat between the two candidates.  It may be only May and the conventions are two moths off, but all signs point to a tight race that could last until November.

Bernie Sanders is not done yet.  He and his supporters have vowed to take their campaign all the way to the convention, never mind that Clinton could wrap this thing up after California votes in two weeks.  And when she does, Clinton could learn a few things from Sanders and his loyal supporters.  She needs them more than Sanders needs her to win in November.

Morley Safer (1931-2016): Making a Quiet Impact

60 Minutes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the golden age of "60 Minutes", one of the longest-running programs in TV history, Morley Safer was the least bombastic of his fellow correspondents.  He didn't have a confrontational reporting style like Mike Wallace, nor was he a complainer about everyday life like Andy Rooney.  Instead, Safer's reports tended to be quieter than the latest interview with a government administrator or a Middle East leader.

Safer came to CBS News from Canada's CBC in the mid-1960s as an international correspondent, and made an immediate impact.  His reporting from the Vietnam War, which included his watching U.S. soldiers torch a village with the cameras rolling, earned him the lasting enmity of President Lyndon Johnson, who tried to get Safer fired.  It was also the kind of reporting you'll probably never see again, since the Pentagon has gotten a lot savvier about how war news is covered on TV, and the networks aren't as committed to international news as they once were.

Safer joined "60 Minutes" in 1970.  His most significant story there was about an African-American man from Texas named Lenell Geter, who was spending years in prison falsely convicted for holding up a restaurant.  After the broadcast aired, Geter was released.  Safer also raised eyebrows when he reported that, based on a study, French citizens had a lower rate of heart disease because of their steady intake of red wine with meals.  Which made it OK to drink red wine, sort of.  But mostly, Safer's reporting centered on travelogues, historical mysteries and pieces on people he's met along the way.

Morley Safer died Thursday at 84, just days after he announced his retirement and CBS aired a special "60 Minutes" broadcast devoted to him.  In the nearly half-century since "60 Minutes" went on the air, Safer had served as correspondent for 46 years, longer than anyone else.   "60 Minutes" will likely keep on ticking into the future, but it will do so without the men who made the broadcast what it was--Wallace, Rooney, Harry Reasoner, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon, and now Safer.  A toast to Morley Safer with a glass of red wine seems appropriate right now, don't you think?

Politics '16: Then There Were Three

John Kasich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before the end of this month, the Indianapolis 500 auto race will have had its 100th running.  On Tuesday, Indiana primary voters chose businessman Donald Trump over Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Governor John Kasich of Ohio, essentially pushing Trump over the finish line in the Republican presidential race.  Afterwards, Cruz and Kasich announced that they were dropping out.

For the Democrats, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won his primary over Hillary Clinton.  The former Secretary of State still has a significant lead over Sanders in the delegate count, but he vows to keep fighting until the party's convention in July.

According to CNN.com, Trump currently has 1056 delegates, with 181 needed to win the nomination on the first ballot.  If Cruz (who has 572) or Kasich (who has 156) should choose to release their delegates to Trump, the process would be shortened considerably.  As for the Democrats, CNN says that Clinton has 2218 delegates and superdelegates to Sanders' 1444, needing only 165 to clinch.

Before we say goodbye to the Cruz and Kasich campaigns, it must be said that they were part of the most unwieldy (and mostly unlikeable) field of candidates in history, no matter what the party.  Cruz' far-right positions, social and political, have made him an unpopular figure in Washington and within his own party.  Kasich's relatively moderate positions would have gotten much farther in any other year.  Just not this one. 

None of the GOP candidates could compete with Trump's personal wealth, reality-TV familiarity and the ability to give new meaning to the old complaint that politicians will say and do anything to get elected.  Or that the voters were getting tired of the same old song and dance from Washington-based politicians who claim to be running against Washington. 

Sanders notwithstanding, the focus shifts to Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton.  Before November, there will be attacks on both sides from both sides whether it's on the campaign trail, at the conventions, the endless TV commercials or the debates.  Most will be on the personal side, and it will not be pretty.  If the polls are any indication, America is not looking forward to any of this.