Why Bernie Sanders loss is still a win for some left-leaning Democrats

One can hear it in the voice of Babes for BerniefounderKathleen Graves, thesense of profound sadness that her candidate, the senator from Vermont, decided to officially endorseHillary Clinton for president.

Sanders is owed respect, she said,andsupporters should collect their thoughtsbefore ripping up their bumper stickers. But his backing of a candidate who is held in such contempt by many Sanders supporters was still difficult to accept.

"I'm not goingto lie,it is a bitter pill to swallow, especially beforethe convention," she said. "I was sort of assuming that this was sort of an eventuality.But I wouldhave preferredit towait."

It's a sentiment likely shared by manySanders supporters whohad suchhopes fortheirlong-shotanti-establishmentcandidate.While garnering a significant and passionate following, particularly among young voters,drawing large, spirited crowdsand racking up a string of primary wins,the self-described democratic socialistwas always going to have a tough time breaking through the Democratic Party establishment.

'Won everything but the nomination'

But while victory eludedhim, Sanders surprised many observers with the extent of his success in the nomination race,and hewas able to move the party and Clinton to the politicalleft, a feat that might be his most significant legacy of the primary contest.

If you look at the platform the party adoptedand Hillary's positionson the issues over the course of thecampaign, Bernie Sanders made this a progressive campaign.-Democratic strategist BradBannon

"The way I look at it, Bernie Sanders won everything but the nomination," said Democratic strategist BradBannon.

"He framed the issues in the campaign. If you look at the platform the party adoptedand Hillary's positionson the issues over the course of thecampaign, Bernie Sanders made this a progressive campaign."

Sanders, whose attacks on Wall Street and income inequalitymade him a champion of progressives, injected competition into a race that hadvirtuallyanointed Clinton as the Democratic nomineewhen the primary season began.

"Clinton beat him decisively, but he still did a lot better than he would have expected," said Kyle Kondik,of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics."He became her chief rival quickly in the campaign."

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Trailing Clinton by57 percentage pointswhen he entered the race,Sanders, who sits as an Independent in the U.S. Senate but campaignedas aDemocrat, was able to narrow polls within 12 points,saidHarryEntenofthe statisticalanalyticswebsiteFiveThirtyEight.com.

"No candidate since 1972 started that far down to a front-runner and came so close to winning," hewrote. And he won 22 primaries and caucuses "with virtually allpartyeliteslined up against him."

Kondik saidSanders provided "an unexpected level of competition" in the Democratic nomination race and "deserves a lot of credit for that."

"I think competition is good," he said. "I think it's good for the public, and I think it's good for the candidates, whether they know it or not."

'Mostprogressive platform'

Sanders grassrootscampaign also raised more than $200 million US, mostly fromsmall donations.

In terms of policy, he was able to secure certain concessions from the party and he declared victory over the weekend, announcing thatthe party's platform committee had agreed toadopt "the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party."

Those concessions includeda pledge for a$15 federal minimum wage, a call for theDepartment of Justice to investigate all shootings involving police officers, an end to the death penaltyand plansto expandpublichealth careandmake public colleges anduniversities tuition-free for students from lower income bracket.

According tosenior policy adviser Warren Gunnels,the Sanders campgot about 80 per cent of what they wanted in the platform.

But Sanders did take a significant loss by failing to strike a dealthat would see the partyexplicitlyoppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. He was unable to get an official commitment for a carbon tax and anational ban on fracking. And his team failed to add language in a section on the Israeli-Palestinian conflictcalling for "an end to occupation and illegal settlements."

As well,the platform still must be voted on at the DemocraticNational Convention in Philadelphia later this month,and none of it is binding on Clinton.

It's got to bedisappointing that while he did a lot better than he hoped, he didn't do it.- KyleKondik,of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics

Although Sanders made impressive inroads, he failed to attractlarge segments of the party to his camp.Clinton cleaned upamong registered Democrats. Sanders supporters were mostly white, upper-middle class,unaffiliated left-leaning young people, said Matthew Baum, aprofessor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"Istilldon't thinkthere are anywherenear enough ofsuch voters to elect somebody who calls themselves a socialist," Baum said.

Kondik said thecampaign was likelythe highlight of Sanders's long political life.

"It's got to be disappointing that while he did a lot better than he hoped, he didn't do it," he said.

Sanders's political future

Asfor his political future, Sanders built a strong base and gained a lot of national name recognition, meaninghe'll continue to be a strong progressive voice, said Bannon.

But it's highlyunlikely that the most successful independent U.S. politician of all timewillbecome a machine Democrat. Instead, he will probablycontinue to play the role of the outsider, whichhehas always been, said Baum.

"I'd be surprisedif he becamea mainstream party stalwart," he said. "It seems to me, he'sbeen doing this for a very long time, and he is how he is, and I doubt that's goingto fundamentally change."

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