Why Sanders Will Not, and Should Not, Drop Out Before July 15th.

According to the LA Times there may be as many as 3 million ballots cast in the Democratic primary which remain to be counted. And, as I have noted previously, the LA County Registrar indicated that there are over 500,000 ballots that remain to be counted in LA County alone.

According to the official tally from Tuesday night, Hillary beat Bernie by 435,000 votes, or by 12.5% (of the 3.5 million votes tallied on Tuesday night) -- a difference which was shocking for its divergence from the opinion polls that showed the race as too close to call. So it is reasonable to expect that a full count of the uncounted ballots will close this gap and may even reverse the outcome, moving California into Bernie's column. And the final tally will not be certified by the CA Secretary of State until July 15th.

Since so much hangs in the balance, it is clear that Bernie should he be pressured by anyone to quit the race -- and that includes Hillary, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and POTUS -- until the final outcome in CA is clear.

Bernie owes this much to his supporters and to himself and to all the voters of California that worked for him and voted for him.

This said, it is hardly surprising that the Clinton Campaign and the DNC are pressuring Bernie to throw in the towel. But if it were made clear to all who voted for Bernie and to the public, more generally, that the very outcome of the Democratic primary contest might hang in the balance, then even the mainstream media would be forced to back off.

So when the pundits point to Sanders refusal to bow out as owing to his being in a state of denial, or delusion, they are just blowing smoke and showing their ignorance of how the electoral process works. Sanders has every right to stay the course UNTIL ALL THE VOTES HAVE BEEN COUNTED. And all who believe in democracy must hope that nobody will deflect him from that course.