Five months ago when Hillary Clinton launched her campaign for the presidency, no one — really, no one — could have ever imagined that Bernie Sanders, the curmudgeon of a senator from Vermont who proudly identifies as a “democratic socialist” would catch fire as a candidate.
Clinton already had the backing of a large chunk of the Democrats in Congress; she had the ability to hand pick the best campaign staff available; and she had a 50 percentage point lead in most early states and among Democrats nationally. Liberals had good reason to feel optimistic about the chances of a Democrat landing in the White House for another four years.