James Carville: Sanders will face pressure to quit: ‘We can’t be lollygagging around here’
James Carville said Democrats may start asking Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to drop out of the presidential race, warning in an appearance on MSNBC that “we can’t be lollygagging around here for a lot longer” if the goal is to defeat President Trump.
“I think what we might be starting to see Democrats starting to ask Sanders: ‘Look, let’s just don’t drag this thing out any more than we have to,” said Carville, a staunch critic of Sanders.
“I mean, people want to get on to the general election. They want to get on to defeating Donald Trump,” he said. “And I think Sanders is showing hardly any showing with the African Americans, who are our most loyal constituency, and our most exciting new constituency — and that is these educated white women.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden won more states than Sanders and pulled out surprise victories in Texas, Minnesota and Massachusetts. He also won decisively in Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennesse and Alabama, and is in the lead in Maine.
Sanders has been projected as the winner in California, Vermont, Colorado and Utah.
Sanders recently referred to Carville as a hack, while Carville has called Sanders “a communist.”
“James, in all due respect, is a political hack.” Sanders told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last month.
“Look, we are taking on the establishment, this is no secret to anybody,” Sanders added. “We are taking on [President] Trump, the Republican establishment, Carville and the Democratic establishment, but at the end of the day, the grassroots movement that we are putting together of young people, of working people, of people of color, want real change.”
In response, Carville told Vanity Fair’s Peter Hamby: “Last night on CNN, Bernie called me a political hack. That’s exactly who the f— I am! I am a political hack! I am not an ideologue. I am not a purist. He thinks it’s a pejorative; I kinda like it.”
Sanders and Biden face off next Tuesday in six state contests, including Michigan, which Sanders took in 2016 against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
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