How Bernie Sanders missed his chance to beat Hillary Clinton

Since March 15, roughly the midway point in the primary season, Bernie Sanders has fought Hillary Clinton to a draw — he has won about as many contests and almost the same number of pledged delegates as Clinton, The Washington Post writes. 

A comeback victory in California, a state with demographics that have favored Clinton elsewhere, would be ­another triumphant second-half win that would make it even harder for Sanders to accept defeat.

“Bernie didn’t grow up thinking he was going to be president,” said former Vermont governor Howard Dean, a Clinton supporter. “To come as close as he has, it’s damn hard to let go.”

Perhaps the campaign’s biggest mistake was not realizing early on that Sanders could win. That led to a slow start, both in building the infrastructure needed to run a national campaign and in Sanders’s own presence among voters who knew little about him.

“I don’t think anybody had figured out how to win when we got in,” said senior strategist Tad Devine. “It was ‘How do we become credible?’ ”