The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is turning into one of the most amazing and perplexing contests I’ve ever seen.

At 74, Bernie Sanders has managed to capture the youth movement, just as Barack Obama did in 2008. It’s not a political operation. It’s a pop phenomenon.

Obama motivated youngsters and others who had never participated in politics before. And like Donald Trump on the Republican side, Sanders’ energy and damn-the-establishment posture has tapped right into the Democratic Party’s idealistic core.

The once-presumed nominee, steady-as-she-goes Hillary Clinton, has no answer to the Bern. Her attempts to capture young voters have fallen flat. Her not-so-secret weapon, Big Daddy Bill, is a bust. These kids don’t even know who he is.

I was talking the other day to a professor in Nevada, where the Democrats hold their caucuses Saturday. He told me that 3,000 Sanders supporters had shown up for a rally in downtown Reno. That kind of number is impressive in a place like Nevada, which still leans Republican.

Then I heard from my buddies in the East Coast black political mafia that they all had breakfast with Sanders at Sylvia’s in New York. So much for Clinton having the African American vote in her pocket.

The next two contests on the Democratic political calendar — the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina primary Feb. 27 — are crucial to Clinton if she’s going to re-establish an image of invincibility. If Sanders finishes even a strong second in either state, he’ll start picking up people who have stayed away because they figured he didn’t have a chance.

And then, Clinton will have big problems.

Bernie Sanders’ greatest inspiration should be Donald Trump. Six months ago, no one in the GOP establishment thought Trump could win the Republican nomination. Now it’s hard to see how he doesn’t.

After New Hampshire, Trump no longer has to prove that he can win. He’s in line to win a lot of states. He just has to keep from losing badly.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the other night. He’s been driving up and down the state in a Chevy Volt, in what I think is a warm-up for a run for governor.

He said Hillary Clinton had asked him to go to Nevada to be a surrogate campaigner. I got the impression he wasn’t sure he should do it.

“You got no choice,” I said. “If she asks you, you go, period.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke at a Black History Month banquet in Sacramento the other night. She was spectacular.

At one point, Rice took on the question that many of us have asked over the years: “Why are you a Republican?”

She answered with a parable about her grandfather, who worked for a year to save money to pay for his first year at an all-black college.

When the day came to re-up for the second year, there were five guys ahead of him at the registrar’s office. Each of them was re-enrolled, no questions asked.

When it was her grandfather’s turn, the man behind the counter asked if he had his tuition. He didn’t. He explained that was because he had been in school rather than working, and he added, “I noticed you didn’t ask for any money from the five guys ahead of me.”

“That’s right,” the clerk said. “But they all want to be Presbyterian ministers, so they have scholarships.”

To which her grandfather replied, “I’ve always wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, too.”

And with that, he got free tuition and did indeed go on to become a minister.

The point: You take the opportunities you are presented with. And in the case of Condi Rice, the best opportunities were with the GOP.

Movie time: “Hail, Caesar!” This Coen brothers satire, set in the golden age of Hollywood studios, falls way short on the laugh meter.

Scarlett Johansson plays a swim star. George Clooney does a good Clark Gable, and Josh Brolin plays the studio fixer. The plot revolves around the days of the anti-Communist blacklist. They even weave a Russian submarine into the plot. But the only time you laugh is when they raise the sign in the movie that says, “Laugh.”

She’s been a San Francisco supervisor, a state Assembly member and most recently an elected member of the state Board of Equalization, but it’s pretty clear that Fiona Ma already has her eye on another office.

That was the feeling I got when she announced at a Chinese New Year event at the Hilton that she had been appointed to the state Film Commission.

“You’re already a state elected official,” I thought. “Why do you need to be on the Film Commission?”

Then it hit me: Hollywood money.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla spoke at the same party. The poor guy clearly didn’t understand the deal when you appear at a Chinatown event. He kept pausing and waiting for people to listen to his remarks.

Alex, nobody listens to the speeches in Chinatown. They’re far too busy visiting with each other and having a good time. Which is what they should be doing.

So gung hay fat choy.

Want to sound off? E-mail: wbrown@sfchronicle.com