• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, January 4, 2016

At the beginning of January 2008, Hillary Clinton held a 15-point lead over then Sen. Barack Obama in national polls. One of the most recent national polls this cycle, fielded by CNN/ORC, has Clinton up 16 points on Vermont Sen. and presidential nominee Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic primary race, as far as the Sanders campaign is concerned, is nowhere near being decided. Fortunately for Hillary Clinton, there are only three more Democratic debates and only one before the Iowa or New Hampshire primaries. Sanders will have to campaign fiercely as we approach Feb. 1, the date of the Iowa caucuses.

With a Clinton backer’s taunting quote hanging on the wall of Sanders’ Iowa HQ -- “There is no Sanders organization” -- the paid Sanders team in that state has grown to 100. This doesn’t include trained volunteers in each of Iowa’s 1,681 caucus precincts -- crucial cogs in driving election day turnout.

According to The New York Times, Sen. Sanders told a crowd in Iowa that he doesn’t “want to get Secretary Clinton nervous, but [he] thinks [the Sanders campaign will] win here in Iowa.”

While Clinton leads Sen. Sanders in Iowa polls by 12.8 points in the most recent Real Clear Politics average, a recent poll has Sanders barely five points behind in that state. Additionally worrisome for Clinton, Sanders quickly gained in the final months of 2015, since some polls put him 32 points behind Clinton as recently as early December.

New Hampshire is where Sanders could seriously shake up the primary. If he wins big there, which is plausible, having given Clinton a run for her money (or even winning) in Iowa, we could experience something akin to 2008.

A major similarity between the 2016 Sanders and 2008 Obama campaign is an intense grassroots focus. The Sanders campaign sent out an email to supporters over the weekend underscoring their fundraising success in 2015. Some 2.5 million people have contributed to Bernie Sanders’ campaign for a whopping $73 million in total donations for the year.

Robust fundraising was especially evident in the last quarter of 2015. $33 million flowed to Sanders compared to $37 million to the Clinton campaign, excluding money raised through the DNC and the Hillary Victory Fund.

President Obama’s surge in the 2008 election polls came at the very beginning of the year, starting before the Iowa caucuses. Let’s see if the Sanders campaign can recreate the same enthusiasm to propel his campaign to an improbable nomination.