It's not 1972 and Bernie Sanders isn't George McGovern

Get over it, Democrats

Bernie Sanders.
(Image credit: Illustrated | AP Photo, Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Is Bernie Sanders the second coming of George McGovern?

The latter was a left-wing dark horse who survived a chaotic and contentious convention to become the Democrats' presidential nominee for the 1972 election. He went on to lose to incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon by a whopping 23 percentage points in the popular vote, and an Electoral College wipeout for the ages.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.