And for something amazing...
Without confederate states
Sanders: 1,513 (50.1%)
Clinton: 1,506 (49.9%)
Without entire south
Clinton: 1,450 (50.1%)
Sanders: 1,447 (49.9%)
Bernie supporters hate the south forever now. The territories helped Clinton out too so Bernie won with the non-southern states overall.
Wow!!!
This is an interesting angle that shows the regional coalitions that the respective candidates built, and although pretty sure everyone who follows this forum is aware, the South was the key element to the substantial Hillary lead from super-Tuesday onwards, it does really demonstrate how a Democratic primary candidate going forward needs to perform at least semi-competitively in the South, regardless of significant support in the three other regions (NE/CA, Midwest, and West) to be able to make a pledged delegate horserace in the end....
I can only speak for myself, but I don't believe the vast majority of Bernie supporters "hate the South forever". This would be somewhat akin to Democrats overall hating the South forever, because they overwhelmingly vote Republican in GEs.
This does potentially reinforce the narrative from back in early March '16, that the Sanders campaign made a major mistake not investing more resources and energy into a few more states in the region (VA and TN for sure), and possibly even a giant roll of the dice in a state like Texas with so many delegates at stake.
If anything, this does demonstrate the power of name recognition, if one compares early Primary results in FL and TX, that are arguably some of the most diverse state in the Union, compared to final results in Cali, where likely 55%+ of voters were "Non-Anglo", and how the later in the election cycle it allows greater time for underdog candidates not that well known nationally to be able to get a decent run for the money in the largest state in the country.
I think "early or bust" is the new norm of the Dem Primary contest, unless the Party can actually mix-up regional voting to so that the South is not front-loaded, and we get a few states from each region mixed in on key dates, the candidate that dominate the South will win the party nomination regardless of political coalitions.
