Bernie Sanders can still win the nomination

It’s Saturday night at a show. Bands are jamming. It’s blasting. But that doesn’t stop a guy from yelling at me: “Nick Miller, feel the Bern.”

And then, the next day, Sunday morning, during a walk to snag coffee, I bump into an old friend, and she asks, “You think Bernie can win?”

Well … I didn’t. But it’s starting to feel like the Bernie momentum is spilling over into Obama ’08 territory.

Oh, and there’s that little bird.

Last week, Portland’s “Birdie Sanders” showed the country that Hillary Clinton absolutely does not have the Democratic nomination wrapped up. The Feel the Bern revolution—what with fundraising that outpaces the Clinton machine and a fiery millennial base—still has plenty of legs.

Yet it’s a Kilimanjaro climb. Sanders has to inch into a virtual tie with Clinton before California. Only then might the endearing Vermont indie take a majority of Golden State delegates.

But that’s looking too far ahead. Let’s zero in on the next Dem primary, this Tuesday, April 5, in Wisconsin. Yeah, Clinton’s leading in most polls—but not all of them, and not by much. Sanders’ ascent in recent weeks has been rapid. He could easily snag more than half of those 86 delegates. And the longer the race for the Democratic nomination remains contested, the more time for Berners to convert new believers.

Winning is still a long shot, however. Sanders must enter the Democratic Convention with more pledged delegates than Clinton and convert “superdelegates” over to Team Bernie. I’m a doubter.

Yet I’ve doubted Sanders since day one. My mistake: Bernie has wings. And in these final months, I’m excited to see if he can take flight.