WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A burn-it-down candidate is topping a splintered field of more moderate contenders and setting the party鈥檚 establishment wing on edge.
It鈥檚 how Donald Trump began his unlikely march to the Republican nomination in 2016. And four years later, it鈥檚 how Sen. Bernie Sanders has cemented himself as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
The Vermont senator won his second straight contest on Saturday with a convincing victory in Nevada, the first racially diverse state on the primary calendar, after winning the New Hampshire primary the week before. He also effectively tied for first place in the opening contest in Iowa.
Sanders鈥� surge has energized his legion of liberal supporters, including young people drawn to his calls for a government-run health care system and eliminating student debt. But it鈥檚 sparked an outcry from rival campaigns and other moderate Democrats that mirrors the worries of Republicans who tried, but failed, to block Trump鈥檚 path in 2016.
They warn that Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, can鈥檛 win in the general election. They warn that he would badly damage Democratic congressional candidates facing tough competition in swing states. And they warn that his nomination is all but inevitable unless other candidates start dropping out and stop splitting up the anti-Sanders vote.
鈥淢oderates need to either consolidate or see Bernie run away with it,鈥� said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for some decisions or live with the outcome.鈥�
But none of Sanders鈥� rivals appears ready to make those tough decisions. And there are no real party elders who can step in to help cull the field. The only Democrat in the country with that kind of sway is former President Barack Obama, who has vowed to stay stridently neutral in the primary contest.
And so, the Democratic field is expected to stay crowded, despite the realization among many campaigns that time is running out to stop Sanders. If he amasses a significant delegate lead in the Super Tuesday contests on March 3, when big prizes like California and Texas are up for grabs, it could be impossible for other candidates to stop his march to the nomination.
Advisers to multiple Democratic campaigns privately conceded on Saturday that they expect up to five other candidates to remain in the race through Super Tuesday: former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg.
Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York mayor, isn鈥檛 competing in the first four contests but is blitzing the airwaves with an unprecedented amount of primary advertising in the Super Tuesday states and beyond. But his shock-and-awe entry into the race was tempered by a shaky performance in last week鈥檚 Democratic debate.
Bloomberg is among the most aggressive candidates in warning about the risks of Sanders’ nomination. His campaign said Saturday that the Nevada results underscore that a 鈥渇ragmented field鈥� is putting the Vermont senator on pace for the nomination 鈥� despite the fact that Bloomberg鈥檚 candidacy is only fragmenting the field further.
He鈥檚 far from the only candidate who sees himself as the solution to the Sanders鈥� dilemma, and the rest of the field as the problem.
鈥淲e鈥檙e alive and we鈥檙e coming back and we鈥檙e going to win,鈥� said Biden, who was on track to finish a distant second to Sanders in Nevada after dismal showings in the opening states.
Biden is hoping to claim his first victory next week in South Carolina, the first state to vote with a significant percentage of black voters, who make up the backbone of the Democratic Party. He鈥檒l likely need that victory to be a resounding one, both to ease voters鈥� anxieties about his own rocky start and to draw out wealthy donors who have been reluctant to support his candidacy.
As the Nevada results came in, Klobuchar, who seemed consigned to a single-digit finish, also vowed to go forward. So did Warren, who hasn鈥檛 finished higher than third in the first three contests.
鈥淲e have a lot of states to go and right now I feel the momentum. So let鈥檚 stay in this fight,鈥� Warren said during a rally in Washington state, which votes on March 10.
Warren鈥檚 rationale for staying in the race hinges on her strong debate performance last week, which re-energized her campaign and, crucially, her fundraising. But her campaign advisers have not publicly identified which states they believe they can win in the next round of voting.
Then there鈥檚 Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He鈥檚 gotten the closest to topping Sanders in the early contests, virtually tying him in Iowa and finishing less than two percentage points behind in New Hampshire.
Those results, Buttigieg argued on Saturday, prove he is best to take on Sanders down the stretch. He also hardened his criticism of Sanders, urging voters to 鈥渢ake a sober look at the consequences鈥� of making him the party鈥檚 nominee.
But the outcome in Nevada, where Buttigieg was in third place with votes still being counted, raises questions about his viability in the more diverse states that are up next on the primary calendar. He鈥檚 struggling in particular with black voters, according to public polling.
Sanders, for his part, is relishing both his front-runner status and the anxiousness it鈥檚 creating among his more moderate rivals.
Like Trump, he鈥檚 been unafraid to challenge his own party鈥檚 traditional assumptions about what it takes to win both the primary and the general election.
As he claimed victory on Saturday, he declared: 鈥淲e have just put together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition, which is not only going to win in Nevada, it鈥檚 going to sweep the country.鈥�
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EDITOR’S NOTE 鈥� AP Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace has covered the White House and politics for the AP since 2007. Follow her at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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