Unless Biden throws his hat in the ring (which I think gets more unlikely as the weeks and months pass), Bernie seems to be the front-runner, and he's going to have more cash than anyone. I wonder when the other Dems will start attacking him. I mean, if they want to win, they can't afford to let him get a gigantic $ advantage.
The Democratic Party primary season is shaping up like 2016's Republican setup - tons of people, no obvious front runners (perhaps some party-chosen front runners, but I think after getting caught meddling in 2016, the DNC will behave this time, possibly excessively so), and a long, drawn out season of chaos, with unexpected results.
Given Bernie's popularity last time, and the country-wide preference for "outsiders" over "Washington Elite," I think he's got a solid chance of just running away with the primaries.
Reading this thread brought up a thought I hadn't considered before - perhaps Bernie is running not with the expectation to win, but with the expectation to help drive policy for the future. Its not that dissimilar to him entering the field in 2016 to at least provide an option and some debate for the D party.
Or... he's playing to win, which is an awful lot more consistent with his behavior and comments in 2016.
Think of all the disaffected people from 2016 who need to be engaged to make 2020 work. Now imagine Bernie not running. There are 17 people in the field. A bunch are going to rise to the top and I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that recycled candidates do terribly. Let the man drive policy and I bet he will gracefully bow out and back a worthy nominee.
The Republicans ran a clown car primary in 2016, and we have Trump out of the deal. Though, to be fair, Trump was remarkably good at setting his sights on a target and tweeting them to death (until they dropped out) - it was properly impressive to watch. We'll see if anyone in the Democrats wants to play that dirty or not.
But I think Bernie has a very real chance of not only getting the nomination, but winning. Now, the feasibility of his policies? Up in the air. But that sure didn't stop Trump.