Clinton Could Still Lose the Nomination

No matter what you've heard about inevitability, there is still a real chance that Hillary Clinton could lose the Democratic nomination, according to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, which isn't the most fervently pro-Bernie Sanders publication. Polls show that Sanders has a strong chance of winning California's June 7 primary, which would "powerfully underscore Mrs. Clinton's weakness as a candidate in the general election," writes Douglas E. Schoen, who notes that a California loss could cause superdelegates currently backing Clinton to think again. According to the latest NBC poll, Clinton is only narrowly ahead among likely Democratic voters in California, with a 49% to 47% lead, and Sanders leads 48% to 47% among all potential Democratic voters in the state.

Schoen predicts that at the convention, Sanders will propose a rule change requiring superdelegates to support the candidate that won their state—and a vote on that would serve as a referendum on Clinton's candidacy. Democrats who had been looking forward to gloating about a contested GOP convention now fear a "messy, disastrous convention could be their own," writes Schoen, who notes that Clinton's legal troubles are escalating and "a clean bill of health from the Justice Department is unlikely." He suspects that if the party turns against Clinton at the convention, they will look not to Sanders, but to John Kerry or, more likely, Joe Biden, who could try to win over Sanders supporters by choosing a running mate like Elizabeth Warren. Click for Schoen's full column. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)