I actually don't think that Sanders will be the nominee, but it's pretty obvious that inevitable sexual misconduct allegations are going to destroy Biden before he even announces.
That said, the hand-wringing about the old man's chances on the first page of this thread reeks of wishful thinking, IMO. Not only is Sanders in an astronomically superior position in terms of national recognition (and, needless to say, popularity) than he was almost two years ago, he is also unlikely to face a candidate backed by a united party establishment candidate in the form of Clinton, and that isn't even bringing up his residual infrastructural advantage that could allow him to win Iowa and New Hampshire fairly handily. (Though with California moving it's primary up, this will likely matter less than it did in past contests)
Very good post. I only disagree partially on one thing.
Running against Hillary, while it did mean facing a unified establishment, also meant he was the only real outlet for anti-Hillary voters. It's not his environmental stances that gave him a landslide in WV, it was the callous disregard for the working class shown in Clinton bragging that she would put coal miners out of work. Even outside of coal country, the impression Hillary cultivated as an out of touch elitist killed her with the white working class, in both the primaries and the GE. Sanders also struggled majorly with nonwhite voters. A candidate like Tim Ryan or Joe Biden could make his white working class landslides impossible to repeat.
