The Nation published a great article on Bernies record as mayor of Burlington:
http://www.thenation.com/...
The things Bernie was able to accomplish are incredible. Not only was he able to transform the city into a thriving, progressive environment - he was even able to get the cities wealthiest citizen - a Republican - and much of the cities business community to back him.
Sure, it took some time for them to come around. But they realized that "democratic socialism" isn't quite the anti-capitalist boogieman that the word "socialism" is supposed to represent according to the modern day McCarthyites in the GOP and libertarians.
If you haven't seen this article, it's well worth the read. It provides a clear example of how Bernie governs - and leads to a stark contrast with how todays mainstream Democratic party generally does business. He didn't have to kiss the asses of business to get them to come around to his way of thinking.
Imagine that - businesses realizing that an economy that works for everyone also works for them.