In an Iowa post-mortem, Greg Sargent spoke to several top Democratic campaign operatives about how Bernie Sanders managed to fight Clinton to a virtual tie. Here's one diagnosis:
Her message has tended to focus on solutions and not really reflect back to people the feelings that they have,” Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic pollster, tells me. “Bernie is reflecting back to people their feelings. She has to do a better job reflecting back to people what they feel and think. Forging an emotional connection is critically important. She’s not always done that very effectively.”I think that's true to a point, but it leaves something out. Sanders doesn't appeal purely to emotion. He establishes a better head-to-heart pipeline than Clinton does. His read on our current situation and how we got there may be oversimplified, but it's coherent and easy to grasp. It's political cognitive therapy: you feel good because you feel you understand what's wrong and what to do about it.
