#KarlRove4Sanders

[IceSpear]

Karl Rove has decided his money would be well spent in trying to help Bernie Sanders win Iowa. B-b-b-ut I thought Bernie was more electable! I thought the GOP feared him and wanted to run against Hillary desperately! Reince Priebus and year early polls told me so!

https://youtu.be/d5j6EQ1DJcg

[IceSpear]

I would call this "disgusting", but it's pretty much the same strategy Claire McCaskill used. Although, come to think of it, this ad is more hypocritical than the ones she ran.

I wouldn't really say it's "disgusting", it's actually pretty smart strategy. But it does show all the talk about how Bernie is more electable (even stated by Priebus himself) is nothing but hot air. Follow the money and the right wing attacks and you'll see who the GOP actually fears.

[IceSpear]

The problem with that is that some people seem to be under the mistaken belief that the many hardcore Sandernistas would vote for Hillary in the general election. They are dead wrong. Trust me, any average Sandernista has a hatred for Hillary Clinton, and for good reason. Not only that, but the Sanders campaign has got many people involved in politics, and r/sandersforpresident mobilizes its members amazingly. Honestly, if Sanders lost the nomination, r/sandersforpresident would likely become r/steinforpresident. After that, it'd be the 2000 election all over again, and everything would go to hell for the Democratic Party.

The frothing at the mouth Bernie cultists on the internet are not representative of the average Sanders supporter. If they were, and the average Sandernista would "never vote for her", simple mathematics would suggest her favorability rating among Democrats would be very lukewarm (it's actually stellar), and she'd be trailing any Republican nationally by 10+ points (she's not.)

[IceSpear]

Nothing about this is surprising. Clinton remains the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination, and it's no shock that Republicans are interested in scoring a few early hits on the probable Democratic nominee.

Anyone who believes that Clinton's "Wall Street cash" won't be a major attack theme for Republicans in the general election is kidding themselves. Particularly if Trump is the nominee. Sanders' apparent success with this message only demonstrates its potential. And you don't need to be to Clinton's left to make this populist line of attack work.

They're not running it just to "score early hits" though. If they were, they'd be running it in Ohio, Florida, etc. Instead they're running it in just Iowa. It's clearly meant to prop up the Sanders campaign. Any other benefit is secondary.

To political junkies, it was obvious what McCaskill was doing in 2012. But her ads weren't aimed at political junkies. And they worked. Rove is trying the same exact thing.