"hoped", not "hope". They tried throwing every kind of poop possible against that wall, but none of it has stuck.
Which brings us to an interesting point: They have never attacked Sanders like they have the Clintons. It looks like he won't be the nominee, but if he had made it the attacks would be relentless. The main reason they have held off is that Bernie Sanders is the candidate they would love to run against, because he is so vulnerable. By the time they were finished with him, he would get less than 1/3 of the vote. His polls only look good because Republicans want it that way.
