By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--April 8, 2019
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“The Vermont socialist pulled in $18 million in the first three months of 2019, most of it from small donors. His nearest rival, Kamala Harris, collected $12 million, with others far behind. (L.A. Times) “Sanders’ campaign is off to a strong start by other measures, too. He says he has signed up more than 1 million volunteers for (in his words) “a grassroots effort the likes of which has never been seen.” He’s staged rallies from coast to coast, drawing crowds of 10,000 or more.Most know by now to NEVER take a socialist at his words.
“In national polls, he runs second to the most popular undeclared candidate, Joe Biden. But surveys show Sanders ahead of Biden in Iowa and tied for first in New Hampshire, the two states that hold the earliest contests. (L.A. Times)“He runs second to the most popular undeclared candidate”. Does anyone take the media spin surrounding the bus full of Dem presidential crazies for real?
“There are caveats, of course. The campaign is still in its early days. More candidates, including Biden, are expected to get in. (L.A. Times)Uh huh and uh huh.
“Most important, at this point national polls measure little more than name recognition, and state-level polls in Iowa and New Hampshire are unreliable guides to voter behavior eight months from now. (L.A. Times).
“Still, Democratic strategists are beginning to consider a prospect once dismissed as unlikely: Sanders — a candidate the establishment saw as a gadfly in 2016 — could get the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. (L.A. Times)Whoop-de-doo!
“Bernie could certainly win,” said Tad Devine, who was Sanders’ chief strategist in 2016 but isn’t working for him this time. (They had a falling-out at the end of the last campaign.) “His base of support is solid. He’s raising substantial resources.” Sanders’ chances look better this time for several reasons. (L.A. Times) “When Bernie ran last time, he started as a message candidate. It was mostly about raising progressive issues, not, ‘I’m going to be president of the United States,’” said liberal radio host Bill Press, who hosted some of Sanders’ 2016 planning sessions around his kitchen table. “This time he’s after the nomination from Day One. That’s a big difference.” “One factor that hasn’t changed: Sanders’ left-of-center message. “I don’t think he’s evolved in the last 40 years,” Press said. “That’s part of his strength. What you see is what you get.” "That may also be his biggest problem.
“Sanders is the most uncompromisingly leftist candidate in the race, hands-down. “His version of “Medicare for all” is a federally run single-payer health insurance plan with virtually no role for private insurers. “He still advocates free tuition at every public university in the country, a policy some Democrats criticize as a subsidy for the upper middle class. He still demands wholesale redistribution of income and wealth from “millionaires and billionaires.” “Other Democrats worry that Sanders would be a disaster in the fall election. They fear his unapologetic advocacy for “democratic socialism” will alienate moderates in a country where polls show “socialism” is a dirty word. (That’s one reason President Donald Trump talks about it so often.)”What should be but wasn’t added to all the yada, yada, yada above is that good ole Bernie unleashed on the unknowing voters of New York’s 14th district the winner of a casting call rather than a congressional representative in bogus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sanders voting bloc thus far includes 2016 supporters showing up in faded T-shirts, claiming to still be longingly waiting for him, felons he demands should be allowed to vote while serving their time in prison, millennials indoctrinated in public schools, and millions of migrants flooding the U.S. southern border. Socialist Sanders is counting on those, who just like Utopia, are already living rent-free in his head.
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