SANDERS SOARS; HILLARY IN GRAVE PERIL

The latest NBC/WSJ poll, conducted between September 20-24 has Hillary only slightly ahead of Bernie Sanders in the national sample of registered Democratic voters. Hillary polls at 42%, Sanders at 35%, and Biden at 17%. With Sanders a bare seven points behind the former Secretary of State, her candidacy is in a state of grave peril.

The polling comes as her policy proposals are getting drowned out by the revelation of her evasions, half-truths, and outright lies on her handling of e mails during her State Department tenure. Dissatisfaction with Hillary’s candidacy has been growing, but now it appears to be coalescing around Sanders’ leftist candidacy.

The political result of this polling is devastating for Hillary. It means that Biden has got to enter the race – whether he’s ready or not. With an imminent threat that Sanders’ winning the Democratic nomination will lead to a total wipeout of party candidates in 2016, the pressure on Biden to run will become irresistible. Democrats, led by President Obama, will hound him into running.

The other result of this shocking poll is that Sanders can actually win. His ultra-liberal agenda has struck a chord with liberal Democrats. Once this genie is out of the bottle, it is highly questionable whether or not it can be put back in. It may be that the forces of an ultra-liberal agenda — anti-free trade, pro-$15 minimum wage, in favor of a 90% top tax bracked, and a raise in social security taxes to finance lowering the retirement age and raising benefits — is unstoppable.

The Republican right wing has long ghettoized the Republican Party, forcing it into inflexible positions on social issues. Now it appears that animosity to Hillary has unleashed a similar tornado among Democratic voters, moving them inexorably to the left and out of the national mainstream.

Now, even if Biden runs, it may not be enough to hold back the Sanders surge. A new force is threatening the long tame Democratic electorate. To find a similar revolution in Democratic ranks, one needs to go back to the New Left days of Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. This wholesale rejection of the establishment of the Democratic Party is a serious threat to the party establishment.