Could Bernie have won by ramping up attacks on Biden? (SPOILER: no)
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As a follow-up to Rob’s concluding point below, it’s worth noting that on this question Bernie was obviously right and the Sirota faction of his campaign was obviously wrong:
Two of Sanders’ top advisers — pollster Ben Tulchin and speechwriter David Sirota — told Sanders that he should pointedly take on Biden at the Feb. 25 debate in South Carolina, which the former vice president saw as his firewall state. They also said Sanders should use billionaire Mike Bloomberg as a foil, and attack him over his record of supporting stop-and-frisk, in order to deflect from the onslaught he would no doubt face as the newly anointed frontrunner.
The stakes were high: In an email to senior staff, Tulchin said that moderate voters were beginning to unify behind Biden and that the consolidation would intensify if he won South Carolina, according to people familiar with the message.
But on the stage that night, Sanders didn’t take his aides’ advice. Instead,he largely gave Biden a pass, bashed Bloomberg sometimes — but not over stop-and-frisk — and mostly stuck to his standard talking points. It wasn’t the first nor the last time Sanders eschewed his staffers’ suggestions to be more aggressive with his top rival. Their warnings proved prescient: Biden went on to sweep the day in South Carolina, unify moderates, and then carry Super Tuesday.
“Knocking out Biden was job No. 1. And even when he was down, no one went for a knockout blow,” said a top aide. “That was the problem.”
If you think through this for three seconds, this is not a difficult question. What ultimately doomed Bernie’s campaign was his failure to win voters who had positive feelings about him but also have positive feelings about the Democratic Party. Could you convert these voters by going nuclear on Obama’s well-liked vice president? The question answers itself.
And by not engaging in a futile last-gasp war against Biden, Bernie preserves a good relationship with him that he can use to influence his administration if he wins, and this is a good thing.