Chris Cillizza is an idiot, but this is interesting because he's the epitome of dullard Beltway Establishment political centrist group think and conventional wisdom, and now here he is, at last wrinkling his brow and pondering the sudden revelation that despite all the ignoring of him by the media, Bernie Sanders has somehow managed to get within striking distance of winning the early Democratic primary contests over Hillary Clinton:
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine it’s Feb. 10. In the past nine days, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) has beaten his Democratic presidential challenger Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. There won’t be another vote for 10 more days (Nevada), and then it’ll be another week until South Carolina, the last of the big four early states, votes.
That scenario would be a total nightmare for Clinton. Period. It’s also a lot more likely to go from fantasy to reality than most people — including most establishment Democrats — understand.
Consider two polls conducted by the Wall Street Journal, NBC and Marist College in Iowa and New Hampshire that were released Sunday. In Iowa, Clinton has 48 percent, Sanders has 45 percent, and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley has 5 percent. In New Hampshire, it’s Sanders in the lead with 50 percent, with 46 percent for Clinton and 1 percent for O’Malley.
Meaning that a Sanders win is perfectly plausible.
Clinton allies have long insisted that Sanders’s geographic proximity to New Hampshire makes him naturally competitive in the state. And, they argue, a Sanders victory in the state would effectively be a “favorite son” situation — rendering it largely meaningless.
But back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire would make it impossible for the Clinton team to make that case credibly. Sanders wouldn’t be a one-state phenomenon; he would be 2-0 in head-to-head matchups against the heavy favorite to be the Democratic nominee.
Voters are barely paying attention yet, and politics is a changeable business.
A narrative of winning for the Sanders campaign could be all that's needed for all those voters who've been planning to vote for Hillary Clinton because she's more "electable" to change their minds and go with the candidate they actually prefer instead — Bernie Sanders.
As Cillizza points out, how likely is it that the underdog winning the first two states will have no effect on the race? Not that likely.
The whole scenario is clearly the reason the Clinton campaign is sharpening their attacks on Bernie Sanders lately — they feel the bern nipping at their heels, and they're afraid.