Blaming either candidate for a future loss in the GE is pointless

[Peacetrain]

If the candidate cannot win the primary/caucus of the party they are running in.. The would/will never win the GE.

[JonLeibowitz]

1. This means liberalism cannot be blamed for the 1972 general election, right?

Thank you for debunking that favored talking point.

[Peacetrain]

2. If a candidate wins the primary/caucus ordeal

they have a base to start from and back them up as they go through the general.. If they did not.. the numbers were never there to begin with.. where a person stands on the political spectrum has nothing to do with it..

[JonLeibowitz]

3. Excellent, so the logical conclusion is...

we should not dismiss candidates based on the idea that the last time a candidate ran on a platform that included tax hikes they lost most of the states. Your OP means that none of the primary challengers to McGovern would have had a better chance of defeating Nixon. Therefore it is silly to argue against a candidate using the argument of electability due to wanting to raise taxes. Your argument has compelling conclusions indeed.

[lunamagica]

4. K&R. Makes sense

[NurseJackie]

5. Yes ...

[Peacetrain]

6. Yep...

At some point everyone has to come to this.. I know I did with O'Malley... I sat back and had to heal for a few weeks..because I really felt strongly about him..but truth be told.. if he could not take the primary/caucus this year.. he would not win the general.. and staying angry with a few people in DU who constantly were negative towards him.. was totally non productive ...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

7. Find out more about who shows up to primaries, and you'll see why your premise is fatally flawed.

[Marr]

8. That's overly simplistic.

There are candidates who do better in a primary than they would in a general election. They're different contests, with different demographics, and different rules.

You also have discrepancies between candidates in terms of support from the party establishment. In the Hillary/Bernie contest, for instance, Hillary has had a big advantage from having the party machinery back her in every way it could. Since we must assume they'd support whoever the nominee was in the general election, it's a crutch one candidate has in the primary that would not carry through to the general.