Dear Leaders:

My name is Susan and I'm a delegate candidate for Bernie Sanders. I would be honored to represent Democrats Abroad but, rather than campaign for myself, I’ve decided to use this opportunity to appeal to you about being my advocate to the superdelegates at the convention.

The race for delegates is going to be so close that just a few hundred party leaders like yourselves will decide whether Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or maybe Joe Biden, will be our Democratic nominee to run against Donald Trump. By virtue of your leadership positions within Democrats Abroad, you have probably earned your spot by holding elected office or, like me, by working hard on campaigns to get good people into positions of consequence. So today I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk to you.



The Democratic Party created superdelegates after General Election losses by McGovern and Carter to make sure that the strongest candidate - the one who can win the General Election and advance the party as a whole - is selected. Yes, Clinton’s resume looks impressive, and, yes, Clinton is the popular pick of party leaders and, yes, Clinton can win the nomination if she can hold onto the superdelegates. But the nomination is only the first lap of the the race and Hillary is not the strongest candidate to go the rest of the way.



Malcolm Gladwell argued in his book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master in your field. If that were true, my 30 years of practicing union and political organizing would have earned me credentials as a "master" leader 10 times over. I suspect many of you would be credentialed too. Together, over the last several decades, we would have already succeeded in electing people to office with the desire and power to improve upon the New Deal and protect the planet.



If we had had our way sexism, racism, homophobia, poverty and war could all be things of the past. If only 10,000 dedicated hours of purposeful practice building movements for justice and organizing for peace was enough, this election wouldn't matter as much. But, of course, we have not yet succeeded and this election really does matter.



Princeton scientists have proven what you and I now know from our own experience that Malcolm Gladwell was 99% wrong. It turns out that all of this practice alone doesn't accurately predict success. Success depends much more on opportunity. Unless we are so fortunate to be present at a special confluence of conditions and awareness AND we take advantage of that moment to use our hard earned skills to help others embrace and take action too, we will never succeed.



It’s not always easy to tell when the moment arrives but this time the success of the Sanders' bellwether campaign shows us that we've reached a critical juncture. As campaigners, we know, with experience-based instinct, when the pieces suddenly fall into place and all my experience tells me that it is happening right now. That Sanders is doing so well in record-setting fashion without the support of the Media, the Party, a PAC, a PR Firm, a Push Poll, the major unions, or an army of handlers and communicators, is evidence that his supporters - especially the un-blinkered young - recognize the turning point, too.



David Brock is the consummate smear artist, and yet there is Bernie Sanders, 74 year-old Democratic Socialist, still standing, still giving the same speech, still gathering huge crowds hungry for his message, his policies, his hope, his spirit and his honesty, just as they did for FDR 80 years ago.



Sanders appeals to disgruntled Republicans, most Democrats under 45, and the largest voting block in the country, independents. His polling numbers against Clinton continue to rise, even in states that have already voted. Sanders beats Trump by larger margins than Clinton does. The more people get to know Bernie, the more they like him, trust him, and see what he sees. Bernie Sanders is the candidate that gets better as the race goes on. Just imagine what he could do with the faith and backing of the Democratic Party.



The convention should not be about anointing the candidate of the party machine or the one with the greatest name recognition at the beginning of the Primary. It should never be about whose "turn it is” but about who can win back our country from the Republicans. For Bernie to win the White House and propel down-ticket candidates into Congress, the superdelegates only need to do what they were created to do, pick the strongest candidate.



I ask you to ask yourselves some questions: How sure are you that Hillary can beat Trump? Are you willing to risk the country’s future on that bet? If Clinton won the White House would she be able to move any significant legislation without an army of activists like Bernie has mobilized? Will she be able to reinvigorate the Democratic Party with a new generation of enthusiastic volunteers dedicated to winning majorities in the Congress? Will a Hillary victory transform the party into one that can reclaim the ground lost to the conservative "boards and hoards" or will it remain mired in the “big money, small idea” ethos that has doomed the Democratic Party to a decades-long slide becoming a shell of its former self by chasing the GOP to the Right?

