New Twists in an Unusual Campaign

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/opinion/new-twists-in-an-unusual-campaign.html

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To the Editor:

Re “G.O.P. Rivals to Coordinate Against Trump” and “Sanders Seeks to Shape Party After Primary” (front page, April 25):

As time grows short, the Cruz and Kasich campaigns have come around to combining strategies to keep Donald Trump from winning the 1,237 delegates needed for nomination on the first ballot at the Republican Convention. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, has relegated the balance of his campaign to moving the Democratic Party further to the left at the Democratic Convention.

All’s fair in politics, but does the politics of these closing days reflect what is best for the country?

Mr. Trump could very well use the Cruz-Kasich strategy, which was reported weakening on Monday, to his advantage. He would be well advised to go for it all and call for the voters to make a clear choice before the convention. To do otherwise will likely saddle the party with a candidate without broad support and the general election with a carnival-mirror focus on the issues.

The Sanders campaign has moved the debate to the left, but going forward, Hillary Clinton cannot be Bernie Sanders. She must craft her own campaign and try to hold on to the left by drawing sharp contrasts with the campaign likely to emerge from the Republican Party.

While the various social and national security issues will be there in the general campaigns, this year the issues of well-paying jobs and the modernizing of America — from infrastructure to clean energy, issues that could well work together — could dominate the debate.

The election should be about that. The question is, Are the last-minute strategies of the faltering primary campaigns taking the country where it needs to be?

BRUCE NEUMAN

Sag Harbor, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Hillary Clinton makes a mistake in dismissing the wishes of Bernie Sanders supporters (“Clinton’s Team Starts to Ponder Names for Her Running Mate,” front page, April 24). Yes, many of them will vote for her in a general election, whatever her policies. But others, uninterested in incremental tweaks to a business-friendly status quo they find unacceptable, may just stay home.

Senator Sanders has attracted millions of enthusiastic young people and independents, precisely the voters Mrs. Clinton needs for victory.

Mrs. Clinton has won the Democratic primary. She can, and should, stop attacking Mr. Sanders, and instead be gracious (“Can Clinton Feel the Bern?,” news analysis, Sunday Review, April 24).

Moreover, she should take Mr. Sanders’s ideas seriously. They are not pie in the sky; they were the core of the New Deal: expanding Social Security, restricting corporate greed and recklessness, and empowering workers so they share in the profits of their labors.

Today, Americans must also limit the influence of corporate money in politics. Mr. Sanders won with his ideas, not his résumé, and Mrs. Clinton can, too.

CAROLINE POPLIN

Bethesda, Md.

To the Editor:

Re “Trump Flouts G.O.P. Dogma on Gay Issues” (front page, April 23):

Kudos for your smart reporting on Donald Trump and gay rights. But my takeaway is not that he is more accepting of sexual minorities than his Republican opponents, as the article implies, but that he will say or do anything to enhance his political and social standing, given the prevailing views of his target audience at any given moment.

A total lack of moral compass would hardly seem a good credential.

RICHARD SOCARIDES

New York

The writer, a lawyer, was White House special assistant and senior adviser for gay rights in the Clinton administration.

To the Editor:

Re “Sanders Confronts Trickier and Narrower Road” (front page, April 21):

Bernie Sanders has enabled Hillary Clinton to transform herself into a more viable candidate by expanding her appeal to the Democratic left.

She should thank him rather than have her stewards ridicule him, and she should offer him a major role in her administration if she prevails in November.

ARMEN DONELIAN

Hudson, N.Y.