Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will appear on campus for Tuesday night’s CNN town hall ahead of Saturday’s Democratic primary here in South Carolina.
All indications are that Clinton will win Saturday’s primary, and the primary map looks positive for her going forward. Now begins the long, slow march toward her nomination.
In his appearance at the Russell House last Tuesday, Sanders maintained he still has a shot. “If we have a large voter turnout, if people begin to stand up and fight back, we can win in South Carolina,” he said.
The polls would suggest otherwise — the latest Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Clinton with a 24-point lead.
So far in this election, Sanders has successfully energized a coalition of younger voters and far-left members of the Democratic Party. But despite his win in New Hampshire, his huge crowds and his prolific fundraising, Sanders' campaign has seemingly stalled with his loss in Nevada and impending loss here in South Carolina.
Now, every candidate has a weakness. Clinton’s problems are her low favorability ratings and the so-called trust and enthusiasm gaps that have kept her from sowing up the nomination. For all the leg work he has put in, Sanders cannot seem to win with minority voters.
In what promises to be a closer race than just about everybody predicted, it’s a question of whose weakness will prove to be worse. Clinton has overcome her baggage and her lack of support among young, white, liberal voters to win in Iowa and Nevada and looks poised to do that again this Saturday.
Sanders' continued inability to win with minority voters looks to be his fatal flaw. Just this weekend, Sanders crashed and "berned" in an appearance at a historic black church in West Columbia. This continued failure comes despite his participation in the Civil Rights Movement at the same time Clinton was serving as a Goldwater girl.
Trust has been a critical issue for Clinton’s campaign, but in the end it may sink Sanders. It seems older black voters just can’t bring themselves to trust Sanders, just as young white voters can’t seem to trust Clinton.
Despite Sanders’ lofty rhetoric about the power of a political revolution, politics is — as "House of Cards" leading man and South Carolina native Frank Underwood could tell you — a business of ruthless pragmatism. Clinton has seemingly accepted that she is not the inspiring choice, at least not on the policy front. She’s not going to win young voters, or those on the far left of the Democratic Party. Instead, it’s full steam ahead with the Frank Underwood school of politics.
As the primaries roll on, she will strive to build a delegate lead by cobbling together just enough support from just enough coalitions and turn her focus toward a general election.
It’s a path to power, one difficult step at a time. It started last weekend in Nevada, and it looks to continue on Saturday.