Charles Hurt: 'Bernie Sanders is in a position to run away with this thing'

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How could Bloomberg shake up the 2020 race?

Charles Hurt, Byron York, Mollie Hemingway, and Donna Brazile join Martha and Bret with reaction and analysis.

With Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leading in the polls ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, a special panel of Fox News contributors joined Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier Monday to give their predictions and what it means for the other candidates running.

"I think Bernie is going to win. And if he does, he'll be able to say, 'I just won the New Hampshire primary. And by the way, if we count it my way, I won the Iowa caucuses in the raw vote,'" Byron York of the Washington Examiner said. "And that usually means someone goes on to the nomination. That puts him in instant conflict with all the party people who say, 'Sorry, Bernie, you didn't win Iowa. It's all about delegates.' But he has a very persuasive populist argument."

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York noted that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not listed on the ballot in New Hampshire, is shaping up to be Sanders' strongest adversary in the later states.

"As far as Bloomberg is concerned, I mean, if Bernie wanted to manufacture a villain for his story, Michael Bloomberg would be it," York said.

Washington Times opinion editor Charles Hurt weighed in, saying Sanders is unlikely to back down from the Democratic party establishment.

"Obviously people have a strong reaction to him [Sanders]. Either they really love him or they really don't like him," Hurt said. "And the establishment of the Democratic Party really doesn't like him for obvious reasons. I think he's one of the few people out there who will not listen to the establishment and he's going to do whatever he wants."

Hurt said he believes the Democratic Party is in an unenviable position.

"Bernie Sanders is in a position to run away with this thing ... they [either] wind up with Bernie Sanders, which is a terrible candidate to go into a general election with, or the party somehow figures out some way to do kind of what they did last time and deny him," hurt said. "And then all of those supporters are going to be massively disappointed and either [not] show up,  or just to thumb their nose, they might vote for Trump.

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Former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said that the reason Democrats are so split is because of the importance of the race.

"This is a race that is about the future of America, not just the future of the Democratic Party. And so what you're seeing now is a party which is very diverse, really trying to figure this out," Brazile said. "They know that this is a big decision and they are worried that they may make the wrong decision. That's why all you see is fluidity."