IndependentVoice.Org

Bernie Sanders and the national independent movement are in a bind.

So says my friend, colleague, and President of IndependentVoting.Org Jackie Salit in her recent Huffington Post piece titled “Bernie, We’re in a Bind”.

As Jackie says, Bernie is stuck between needing independent voters (who are propelling his candidacy) and not being able to “go all the way” with those voters in their calls for reform (like letting them vote in the primaries) because Clinton would attack him as “not a real Democrat”:

You nearly won Iowa, you crushed it in New Hampshire and came within a hair's breadth in Nevada. How? By carrying independent voters who chose a Democratic ballot by huge margins. Sixty-nine percent of independents in Iowa. Seventy-three percent of independents in New Hampshire. Seventy-one percent in Nevada. That's where your competitive margin is coming from. . . .

. . . I know the second that you acknowledge the importance of independent voters to your campaign -- and to this country -- you will be attacked for not being a loyal Democrat. That could hurt you with the Democrat base.