Normally, the hopes and fears of the two major political parties are roughly symmetric. If one party is worried or pessimistic, the other party is usually hopeful or optimistic. There are occasional exceptions say, if one side is increasingly optimistic about an election while the opposition is in denial or even delusional; they should be worried but aren’t. None of that is the case now. This is one of the few times when the leaders, top strategists, and establishments of both parties are panicky, and for good reason. Democrats are understandably worried that their longtime front-runner for the presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, is falling behind Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Nationally, Sanders’s support is growing while, in virtually every opinion poll you look at, Clinton’s numbers are softening if not sinking like a stone. Her leads against possible Republican opponents, once strong, are now gone.
At the same time, it would be daunting to find a party leader or a strategist not on Sanders’s payroll who thinks the self-described Democratic
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