Did Sen. Bernie Sanders pull off some kind of major coup or achievement by narrowly defeating Hillary Clinton in the Michigan primary on March 8?
According to the facts, he defeated Clinton by 1.7% in Michigan, a tiny margin. And when the results of both the Michigan and Mississippi primaries are combined, Hillary Clinton gained considerably more delegates than Sen. Sanders did: Hillary gained 58 delegates based on the votes she received in the Michigan Primary and she received 29 delegates based on the votes she received in the Mississippi primary.
Also, let’s remember that the Michigan primary is an “open primary,” meaning that whether someone is a registered Democrat or a registered Republican, he/she can request a Democratic ballot and vote for Democratic candidates. This means that there could easily have been many Republicans who requested Democratic ballots in Michigan solely in order to vote for Sen. Sanders in the March 8 primary election, with no intention of voting for him in November if he were to win the Democratic nomination.
Between the Michigan and Mississippi primaries, Sen. Sanders gained 4 delegates through the Mississippi primary and he gained 65 delegates through the Michigan Primary.
So, let’s net this out:
Delegates gained by Clinton in March 8 primaries: 87
Delegates gained by Sen. Sanders in March 8 primaries: 69
So, Clinton gained 18 more delegates than Sanders.
In the final analysis, Clinton gained more than Sanders through the Michigan and Mississippi primaries.
The world has not been turned upside down.