It’s all but impossible for the left to get its favored candidate to the Democratic nomination.

Or so the conventional wisdom goes.

But sometimes, just sometimes, that old C.W. gets tossed right out the window by the people. That sorta kinda happened last night. In the narrowest of Iowa defeats, the left candidate stormed from the low single digits past all the firewalls the various scolds threw out to all but victory, all but 50%, and very definitely throwing the latest scare into a Democratic establishment that has been running scared for months now.

But we still lost.

And we’ll lose again if we don’t learn the lessons of Iowa moving forward.

There are two, one short-term, for this Presidential election and one long-term, for the future.

Let’s start with the short-term:

1). The age gap trumps the gender gap .

Everyone under 45 broke for Bernie in astounding numbers. The younger the voters, the more stark the margin. We’re talking 75-85% Sanders among the under 25s.

That’s insane.

And gender did not matter. Young women went massively for Bernie.

So what is the lesson here?

If we want to grow Bernie’s coalition, we are pretty much tapped out among white voters 45 and younger. If other states follow Iowa’s lead, there will be little room to grow that vote. Of course, younger voters turn out less, so we’ll really need to build the excitement and Get Out The Young’un Vote if we want to have a shot moving forward.

We’ll also have to work, urgently and aggressively to win over the elderly, the baby boomers and near-boomers who make up the real Hillary coalition. That will be a tall order, but it’s the must moving forward.

Appeal to their forgotten or abandoned 60s ideals, but also reason with them carefully and precisely. Be calm, firm and rational in presenting Bernie’s social policies, explaining why they are not dangerous, and how they will protect an aging and vulnerable population and their offspring battling in a very uncertain economic climate. DO NOT badmouth Hillary too aggressively to them. She is beloved by this demographic subset, who see her as one of their own (wrongfully deprived of the crown in 2008). Do not underestimate how tough winning them over to another candidate is.

Now for the longer-term lesson of Iowa. 50/50 there is great, but Bernie’s not polling 50/50 in South Carolina, or pretty much any state with a significant black and Latino population:

2). The chasm between the white left and blacks/Latinos must be bridged .

So you’re young. So maybe you’re not so young, but you’re white. And you love Bernie. Great!

But by and large, black and Latino voters don’t really know who he is, even now. And those that do aren’t sure what to make of the guy.

The white left, represented in past Presidential races by insurgent candidates like Bradley and Dean, has never found much purchase among blacks and Latinos. Well, can’t have that any longer.

The reasons for the disconnect are complex, social, economic, political, cultural, pretty much all of the -ics and -als. Blacks and Latinos have their own leaders and their own pathways of survival, struggle and self-actualization. White left candidates must engage with these figures and honor these tropes of speech, action, and living. Or be ignored.

Why does Hillary Clinton soar in polls of blacks and Latinos? It’s partly being a famous brand, sure. But she and her husband have also spent decades transacting with black (and to a lesser extent, Latino) community leaders and transactng in cultural mores honored by said groups.

As I’ve stated for months, Bernie has not. He spent decades sequestered in one of the whitest states of the union, far out of the circuit of black and Latino culture, politics, and struggle. And when he has turned up vote-seeking, he hasn’t always seemed open to learning and making up for his lost time, privileging the frantic stump speech and the quest for votes (which is understandable).

In many ways, Bernie’s life mirrors that of so many white liberal professionals. Do productive things, become respectable, hold respectable views, move to a very white area, live well, and deplore racism without paying too close attention to the current practice of black/Latino culture and counter-culture. Live in a “nice area” segregated by race, income, and profession. Become remote.

So when such white liberals come around seeking black/Latino votes, there is a disconnect. And the double disconnect between the left and both older conservative Dems and minority Dems is just too much to overcome.

Future left Presidential aspirants must do more to avoid this all too well-worn path to failure. Engage with the black/Latino community, fight with them, join with them. Learn from them. Speak to them in their terms, show them that you know them, respect them and honor them. If you’re not male and not white, excellent! If you are, spend years immersing yourself in these communities if you expect to win their votes come election time.

Winning young, white liberals is not enough to win the future. As they age, every generation drifts center/right. Yesterday’s anti-war hippies are today’s 401k-toting Hillary Army.

And that army holds power today. Convincing them to surrender a bit of it and place it in the hands of those representing a different, more radical America will be very hard work. It won’t be done in a one caucus or one election cycle.

Our work is just getting started. Let’s do this thing.