Sanders came very close to becoming the breakaway favourite to win the Democratic nomination. He ended up with the most votes after the extended, chaotic Iowa results were announced a week after the caucuses. In New Hampshire, he posted a narrow victory over Mayor Pete Buttigieg and the rest of the crowded field. Then he dominated Nevada, beating Biden by 26%.
That, it turned out, was the high water mark of the Sanders campaign.
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It turned out it didn’t sweep the country.
Instead, Sanders ran headlong into a resurgent Biden, who posted a surprisingly strong win in South Carolina just a week later.
In political campaigns, things turn out. There are surprising wins. Billionaire-funded national organizations don’t pursue well thought out strategies, instead candidates enter and drop out of races in a random fashion, endorse or don’t endorse as the mood strikes them. It’s random. Things turn out.