Bernie Sanders Is Built to Outlast His Opponents
His defenses work well enough in the primary. But the general election will be different.
What him worry?
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images
At the Democrats’ South Carolina debate, all of Bernie Sanders’s competitors finally acted as though they realized he is the front-runner. He took more criticism than ever. But he emerged victorious for the same reasons that he took the lead in the first place.
First, it’s still not clear who, if anyone, will be his main challenger. Both Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg performed better than they had at the previous debate in Las Vegas — the former New York City mayor had nowhere to go but up — but neither was spectacular. Biden leaned on his crutches too much. Every time someone tossed him an issue, he explained he had already sponsored a bill on it three decades ago. Then he worked in a reference to Barack Obama.