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Bernie's Debate Performance Pays Off:
The presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said it raised $1.3 million Tuesday in the four hours after the Democratic debate began.
Sanders appears to have successfully parlayed his most-talked about moment during the debate — telling Hillary Rodham Clinton that “the American people are sick and tired of talking about your damn e-mail” — into a sharp uptick in donations.
A Sanders solicitation e-mailed to supporters while the debate was still going on included a video of the moment and seeks donations “before Bernie steps off the stage.”
In the video, Sanders argues that there are far more important things to discuss than Clinton’s use of private e-mail as secretary of state. Among them, he said, were the collapse of the middle class and the number of young people looking for decent jobs.
LA Times Analysis:
For Sanders, by contrast, the debate probably reinforced an image as a political figure who is not afraid to take positions that lie outside the perceived mainstream. For many viewers, Tuesday night was probably their first sustained exposure to the independent Vermont senator. While his repeated calls for political "revolution" and suggestions that the U.S. should look to Denmark for answers to social policy problems may have thrilled his followers on the party's left, they seemed unlikely to expand his support beyond the college-educated white liberals who have flocked to his rallies.
Debates are about contrasts, and Clinton, Sanders and the other three Democrats on the stage offered several on issues both large and small. But the session also served as a reminder of the relative unity that Democrats have enjoyed through most of President Obama's tenure in office. It's a unity that is particularly striking at a time when the Republican Party struggles, both on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress, to find a way to bridge fundamental divisions.
Authenticity Wins:
Democrats have a surprisingly competitive race for their presidential nomination, and if you watched their announced candidates debate Tuesday night, you saw why. Not because the candidates, like their Republican counterparts, spent much time and effort attacking one another; they didn't. And not because Hillary Rodham Clinton suffered grievous wounds or damaged her standing; she didn't.
No, what came closest to electrifying the night was a Vermont senator, a self-described democratic socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, and who probably can't get elected president. Bernie Sanders demonstrated time and again Tuesday night why he's the force vector in this race. If you watched, you now know why he attracts the huge crowds, the money, the energy of rank-and-file Democrats — a party to which he doesn't even belong.
You also know why he gives Clinton conniptions. While she behaved like the front-runner — confident, competent, comfortable — Sanders was connecting with the audience. He even managed to profit from a Clinton problem while tacitly excusing her from it: "The American people," he said, "are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" Sanders wanted to talk about issues that trouble Americans.
Sanders To The Rescue:
After leaving the debate stage on Tuesday evening, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., helped shield MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell from a crush of cameramen that nearly knocked her down as they sought to get him on video.
The incident occurred in a hallway just outside the spin room at the Wynn Las Vegas, where candidates and their surrogates spoke to the press following the Democratic presidential debate.
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Yahoo News was standing right behind Sanders as the human surge began to knock Mitchell off balance. Sanders threw his hands out and pushed the crowd away as he shouted for people to move back. As the crowd began to part he reached over to Mitchell, who was still regaining her footing.
“You all right?” Sanders asked. “Are you OK?”
After checking in with Mitchell, Sanders continued admonishing the crowd to move back.
The Candidates On Marijuana:
One burning question on some voters' minds was put to rest during the first Democratic debate, hosted by CNN and Facebook Tuesday night in Las Vegas: What would the top candidates do when it comes to legalizing marijuana.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who commands the liberal left with his economic policy positions, said he would vote in favor of a local Nevada measure that would legalize recreational pot use.
"I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses," he said. "We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana."
For former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the answer was hazier.
Asked if she was ready to take a position on legalizing recreational marijuana, she replied, "No."
Those Damn Emails:
Even though he admitted it might not be "great politics," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted the obsessive focus on Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during the Democratic debate Tuesday.
"The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," Sanders said. The Democratic candidate then went on to list a series of issues including money in politics, trade policy and inequality that are more important than the former secretary of state's emails.
"Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America," Sanders said to loud applause in the debate hall. Sanders' campaign also quickly sent a fundraising email to supporters during the debate with a video of the Vermont senator's comments.
More:
It was, without question, the climax of the debate. Hillary Clinton was defending herself against email allegations, when Bernie Sanders came to her rescue. In doing so, he not only demonstrated the decency that is the hallmark of his campaign, but also proved that he's no ordinary politician.
Bernie Sanders doesn't want to win the White House if it means losing his integrity. He's willing to protect even his political rival if it's in the name of justice.
This campaign cannot be about emails, but only Bernie Sanders was big enough to say that, on his competitor's behalf.
Bernie Sanders' Night:
When Sanders, who had the best night Tuesday night in Las Vegas, called for a political revolution, he wasn’t talking to the other candidates onstage or, for that matter, moderator Anderson Cooper, who bought a 10,000 square-foot, 18-bedroom home here in Connecticut last year. Revolution seemed mildly risible to everybody else onstage, in which case they’ve badly misread the level of discontent in this country.
He was talking to the rest of us. When you decide you’re less interested in winning and more interested in saying what you believe, all kinds of possibilities open up. It’s tough to know how well Sanders’s call for a carbon tax and for a Scandinavian-style welfare state will play with a general electorate, but, damn, it was refreshing to hear somebody tell the unfettered truth about climate change, income inequality and the “billionaire class that has so much power” over our political system.
“Congress doesn’t regulate Wall Street; Wall Street regulates Congress,” was the line of the night. Boldly announcing, as Sanders did, that the voters are “sick and tired of hearing about” Hillary Clinton’s “damn emails” was a smooth move that helped Sanders more than it helped Clinton.
Going into tonight, I thought Sanders’ candidacy had a limited lifespan, a boutique voter base and a purpose confined to pushing Hillary Clinton and the press on progressive issues.
Now, somehow, it all seems a little bigger than that.
TeleSur - Polls Place Bernie As The Winner:
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders won the Democratic Party debate Tuesday, while Hillary Clinton followed in second place, according to various major U.S. news outlets
A poll carried out by Fox News shows that 77.29 percent of the people that responded to the survey felt that the independent senator from Vermont won the debate, while only 15.9 percent voted in favor of Clinton.
A poll by Slate showed similar results. Sanders topped their survey with 75 percent of the respondents' votes, while Clinton garnered only 18 percent.
The Washington Post also concluded that Sanders won the debate. They based their appraisal on the online response.
"Sanders repeatedly saw spikes in Google interest after he spoke. After his intro. After he talked about guns. After basically everything else he said,” Washington Post said.
Sanders Stands Out:
hough Clinton had center position, Sanders became the center of attention. He exuded a warm, confident, compassionate and likable style that took the edge off his overtly socialist ideals.
Sanders did a better job than Clinton in trying to shut down questions about the former secretary's email scandal.
Sanders went on to hammer home a message he returned to throughout the night, explaining how the middle class is "collapsing" and 27 million live in poverty.
Sanders said the American people wonder whether their country will continue as a "democracy" or as an oligarchy built on the Supreme Court's ruling in People's United v. FEC. The landmark decision allows independent political expenditures by corporations, labor unions and other associations.
Sanders repeatedly talked about sharing the wealth of billionaires and millionaires, a message of red meat for Americans who feel overtaxed, overworked and underpaid.
Schultz Represents:
At the end of the first Democratic presidential debate here, a former MSNBC host was standing in the middle of the so-called spin room.
“Ed Schultz, Bernie Sanders campaign,” read the sign held in the air above him.
The former liberal MSNBC host of The Ed Show showed up to promote the Vermont senator at the Wynn hotel and casino here along the Vegas strip. Schultz told The Daily Caller that “tonight I’m a spokesperson for the Sanders campaign.”
TheDC asked Schultz about Sanders repeating in the debate he doesn’t consider himself a capitalist. Schultz argued voters don’t care about the distinction. “I think the people that are engaging in Bernie Sanders campaign in this country are not into labels and identity politics,” he said. “You say socialist to some young person whose getting involved in the process, they just want to know about their college tuition bill. They want to know about their health care. And you know what’s this election’s about? Jobs and wages.”