He was very much an outlier in the sense that he was so transformational as a candidate, his charisma and ability to appeal to large swaths of the electorate is like nothing we've seen since JFK. So it's not surprising at all that a candidate couldn't replicate that kind of destined energy.

But as to why Bernie couldn't beat Clinton? lol c'mon - the deck was so stacked against him. He was polling at less than 1% to start - and the Superdelegates nullified any victory he had (he won New Hampshire *big* - but left the state with the same amount of delegates as all of the state's delegates went to Clinton - and this was a common thread in the primary).

The DNC had already made up its mind that Clinton would be the nominee - they just didn't expect Bernie to mount such a viable challenge. But outside of the (now confirmed) titled primary in Clinton's favor - she also had all of the traditional democratic loyalists who loved Bill supporting her. Bernie also did a fairly poor job courting the Southern vote - and that's something he'll have to address if he's to earn the nomination this time around.

All that being said - the dynamics in a primary are very different from the dynamics of a general. Again - all you have to do is look at the verifiable and credible polls to see that Bernie carried significant margins against Trump in a general (whereas Hillary was always neck and neck with Trump in a general) - and that's because once you get outside of a democratic primary, the fight is to appeal beyond your party - and Clinton really struggled with that. Bernie's favorables (being the highest rated Senator/politician in the country in terms of popularity and favorability) would've served him well in a general in 2016 (and will) serve him well in 2020.

-->