Loser then, loser now

Shades of 2008, the Clinton campaign is already slip-sliding into panic mode, dispatching bluedog Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri to the talk circuit to shout "Socialist, socialist!"

The thing is, Bernie Sanders' positions are too well-known to surprise and too centrist to cause panic. That Sanders embraces the title Social Democrat helps neutralize the term, too. The last time Clinton ran, her campaign used Barack Obama's middle name a lot and tried to tag him as a kind of associate Muslim; we know how that worked out.

Clinton herself would never stoop to such tactics, of course, but in this tightly controlled campaign, her surrogates will stay on message that Sanders is too far left to be elected president. What the Democrats can't seem to grasp is that Clinton is the one who is out of step both with the party base and with voters in general.

Bernie Sanders may never get to be president, but neither will Hillary Clinton. The Democratic Party kingfishes better hope that Joe Biden or some other mainstream heavyweight enters the fight before, from their perspective, it's too late.