A lot has been made from the fact that Bernie Sanders was booed during a speech when he returned to his Congressional colleagues. What was his crime? He told a crowd full of career politicians that winning elections isn't the ONLY thing they should worry about. What is more important is transforming the country and making sure that all people have a decent standard of living. But these political goons were befuddled. Of course winning elections is the only thing that matters. "Forget policies and what happens to the people that are supposed to be represented. What is more important is that I keep my well-lavished seat on the Hill, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful", they replied in angst. However, secretly, these politicians know that their party is dead. Almost half of Democrats and the vast majority of Independents supported Sanders in the primaries and if not for voter suppression of magnificent scales, and maybe even some voter fraud, they would have been overtaken by Sanders supporters. They know that polls show half of Sanders supporters still won't vote for Clinton's party and that progressive policies, poll after poll shows, are widely popular.

How It Works

Bernie Sanders right now has 1846 elected delegates and 48 super delegates making a total of 1894 delegates. To become the Democratic Nominee, Sanders will need 2383 delegates. That means Bernie is 489 delegates shy from the White House. In order to make up the shortfall, Sanders will need to enlist the support of the undecided and Clinton super delegates. Super delegates are made up of Democratic politicians, donors, and lobbyists. Sanders, no matter how many times he uses his grandfatherly charm, will never get the support of big dollar donors and lobbyists. But the politicians, who are responsive to only money and power, give him a very small window for opportunity. There are 177 super delegates who are in the House of Representatives and the average House race costs $1.5 million. So Sanders supporters would need to raise 177 × 1.5 million or $265.5 million.
There are 46 super delegates who are in the Senate and the average cost of a Senate race is $10 million so Sanders supporters would need to raise $460 million. There are 20 governors and since states vary in size, the amount of money can vary widely. Using wikipedia to look up each of the 20 governors individually, Sanders supporters would need to raise about $210 million. All of this comes out to be 243 super delegates for a mere $935 million.But wait, Sanders still needs the support of 246 super delegates. Who are these delegates Sanders needs to woo? They are "unelected DNC members" aka lobbyists and retired politicians who want to have their say on who becomes the next most powerful person in the world. These lobbyists represent corporate and special interests who lavish them with high pay in return for access in the corridors of power. Maybe its wishful thinking, but let's assume these lobbyists can be convinced to join the political revolution for $2 million on average. That would mean Sanders supporters would need to raise 246 × 2 or $492 million. So there you have it: Bernie Sanders would need to raise $1.4 billion in order to become the nominee.

Is it possible?

Yes I suppose anything is possible. So let's do the math. Sanders has been raising about $50 million every month (until April but by then people were demoralized by his loss in New York) so now until November, if he raised that much, he would raise $250 million. Now if his supporters have 5 and half times as much as previously or enlist more people to donate (the vast majority of Bernie voters don't contribute), he would come up with the necessary $1.4 billion by the end of November to pay back all his super delegate voters (he could give to the politicians running for reelection first and then give to the unelected goons later). But maybe the Democratic Party is too corrupted by billions of dollars in dark money cash to be salvaged by anybody. An electoral loss of epic proportions in November may be the only way to wake them up from their cash-ridden slumber.