Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday that "this was not the time" that Hillary Clinton should have run for the White House — "probably" in 2008, when she lost the primaries to Barack Obama — and that Bernie Sanders might have proven more formidable against Donald Trump.
"Hillary Clinton, this was not the time she should've run for president," the former Democratic National Committee chairman told Rich Zeoli on 1210 WPHT-AM in Philadelphia. "Probably 2008 would've been a better time for her to run for president.
"But it's just right time, right place," he added. "And again, you've got to give Donald Trump a ton of credit."
Rendell said that the party lined up to back Clinton because "she was someone who had friends that were longtime friends and associates of the party — and there's a great feeling.
"There's an emotional tie between a lot of Democrats around the country and Hillary Clinton," he added. "But that doesn't mean that she was the right candidate for a general election."
However, "it would be interesting to think of how Bernie Sanders would've done," Rendell told Zeoli.
"Bernie Sanders would've lost a few Republicans who voted for Hillary because of some of his economic views — but he would've fought Donald pretty hard for those disaffected, angry, and frustrated workers."