I've recently seen where Senator Sanders says that the Democratic Party will have a contested convention.
If he makes that happen, he will undo all the good work he's done to date.
He's been a great candidate, and been great for the Democratic Party, and even great for Secretary Clinton. He has brought issues front and center, and the result has been a substantive and constructive debate.
And, whatever the math is in the meantime, he should stay in the race, being the voice of so many progressive values and establishing himself as an important point of view in constructing the Democratic platform.
But coming into the convention, he needs to remind his voters that the candidate with the most votes is the legitimate representative of the party. He needs to work with all his might on bringing the party together, and bringing his supporters into the fold of the party and its voters.
As Democrats, we've been gleeful about how Cruz and Trump battling in a contested convention would fracture the Republican vote, and doom them to lose not only their bid for the White House, but the Senate and maybe the House. What chumps will we be if Sanders' supporters do that to the Democratic party?
So I truly hope, for the nation's sake, and for the sake of Senator Sanders and his legacy, he realizes before it's too late what a terrible mistake driving a contested convention would be.
When he talks about taking it to a contested convention, all I can think about is this scene from "The West Wing" episode "The Red Mass," (Season 4, Episode 4,) in which Senator Howard Stackhouse, a man of great integrity and character, has been running for the democratic nomination in order to bring important issues into the debate. He does unexpectedly well, and comes into conflict with the president -- the joy of winning is overshadowing what he's been there to do.
In the end, he comes to a realization, and has this conversation with President Bartlet after the president has addressed the Supreme Court at the Red Mass:
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XEnJ9IH87mE/mqdefault.jpg)