Even in Losing, Sanders Wins Big

The elections that were held yesterday might confirm who wins the democratic presidential ballot in 2016, but Sanders has won the future.

His ability to gather millions of contributors and a force of supporters that will enthusiastically carry out what he wishes will be a repeat of what happened in 1972 when George McGovern lost the general election but changed the Democratic Party and energized many liberal organizations that sought to change America.

At the end of McGovern's election, Morris Dees took the incredible list of donors and used them to revitalize liberal groups and eventually turned them over to a Georgia politician named Jimmy Carter who used them to gain the money he needed to run for president.

Whoever controls Sanders' list and voice after the election — a list of powerful donors — can easily elect the next Democratic president of the United States and raise significant money for the groups that supported Sanders. This include Black Lives Matters, Muslim student associations, pro-immigration groups, and groups interested in the redistribution of wealth.

In the next four years, Sanders or his proxies could raise millions of dollars to carry out the goals he has for America.

Sanders' list is mainly an email list that is cheaper to mail to people to keep them energized than McGovern's direct mail list.

Dees wrote the most successful direct mail letter in America's political history for McGovern. The letter was 12 pages long and raised money for the entire campaign. Yes, McGovern lost, but the list he created changed America and elected a Democrat president.

In addition to Sanders' ability to give someone millions from the donors on his list, we have seen in Chicago how quickly his supporters will turn out for him to mute free speech. This is the same tactic used by Peron, Chavez, and the brownshirts to silence Democratic voices that allowed a dictator they supported to become the head of their country.

Don't laugh at Sanders' efforts, because he's the future.

Brad O'Leary is a veteran political consultant, publisher of The O'Leary Report, a best-selling author, and a former NBC Westwood One talk-show host. To see more, go to OLearyReport.com