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Senate Democrats get a Bernie Pitch:
Senate Democrats got a side of Bernie Sanders with their lunch Tuesday, as their independent colleague pitched them on his presidential candidacy during the conference's weekly gathering.
Sanders's presentation follows one earlier this month by his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, whom a majority of his colleagues already support. Sen. Joe Manchin said Tuesday that after Clinton's address, Minority Leader Harry Reid wanted to give Sanders "balanced time" before the conference. But Manchin couldn't say if other Democrats seeking the nomination would also be invited to address Senate Democrats.
Sanders's presentation was relatively brief and largely a laying out of his ideology and vision for the nation's future, members said. He also discussed the large crowds that have shown up for his speeches around the country.
"Bernie basically has just reaffirmed everything he's spoken about since he got here," Manchin said of the presentation. "He's as genuine as can be. You know where he's coming from, whether you agree or disagree. But Bernie's Bernie."
That might sound odd for a member of Congress who has worked with many of his colleagues on the Hill for more than two decades and has never been shy about his ideological leanings, but it was an important opportunity, said Sen. Robert Casey.
"I think that as much as we hear from each other about issues and we know where each other is generally, you don't always get a chance to kind of lay out your philosophy or vision for where the country should go. And sometimes you get that in the context of the Senate and in where our caucus is, and then you run for president, you have an even better opportunity," Casey said.
Sanders Southern Strategy:
Bernie Sanders is taking a General-Sherman approach to his summer, barnstorming across a deep South that is definitely enemy territory for Northeastern liberals. But unlike Sherman, the strategic purpose isn't clear. In fact, at first glance, it seems to be among the most Quixotic ventures of his young campaign, given the degree to which Democrats are outnumbered there.
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According to Tad Devine, Sanders’s campaign advisor, there are three major reasons to campaign in every state: to introduce the candidate to different constituencies, to help build a national campaign infrastructure, and to get over what Devine called the “threshold of credibility” in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
“I’ve seen how important that vote is to people who participate in those events,” Devine said during a phone interview, referring to voters in the early state caucuses and primaries. “They take it very seriously and they won’t waste it on a candidate who they don’t think is a serious, credible, national candidate.”
The kind of large crowds and positive media Sanders has been winning doesn’t always translate to electoral success, as Sanders’s fellow Vermonter Howard Dean might point out. But Dean was also the architect of the Democratic Party’s 50 state plan in 2005 when, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he pushed for the party to establish a party infrastructure in every state. The plan was criticized as a waste of resources (Democratic strategist Paul Begala memorably said Dean was “hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose”) but led to tangible improvements in the party’s performance in red states between 2004 and 2008.
And the curiosity about and passion for Sanders on the hustings is something that differentiates his campaign from Clinton’s; in a conventional war, she wins. “If we just go by the traditional roadmap of the way we run the campaign, that’s a losing campaign for us,” Devine said. “We can’t win that campaign.”
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In the dream-y ambience of the current Sanders crusade, even a blue Louisiana is not out of the question. “I think some people say ‘Look, Louisiana—he doesn’t have a chance,’” Devine said. “Well, the truth is, if Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party, you know, a long shot candidate against a prohibitive front runner wins the nomination, I don’t think anybody knows which states are in play.”
Theres Something About Bernie:
There’s no way this man could be president, right? Just look at him: rumpled and scowling, bald pate topped by an entropic nimbus of white hair. Just listen to him: ranting, in his gravelly Brooklyn accent, about socialism. Socialism!
And yet here we are: In the biggest surprise of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, this thoroughly implausible man, Bernie Sanders, is a sensation.
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You don’t often hear politicians admit that they didn’t expect to catch on. But Sanders and his team have a bracing habit of saying things politicians and their aides are not supposed to say—a minor violation of norms that reminds you how accustomed we are to being lied to in politics.
Another basic tenet of campaign spin is that consultants must never admit their candidate isn’t totally perfect, but Sanders’s people apparently missed that lesson as well.
“I give him advice—not always advice that he follows,” says Tad Devine, the veteran Democratic consultant, a former adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry, who is Sanders’s top strategist. “He is not interested in the niceties of appearance and hairdo.”
Sanders’s communications director, Michael Briggs, adds: “He goes on for an hour—long, eat-your-spinach kind of speeches. And people are clapping for it!”
In that spirit of radical honesty, I am not going to tell you now that Sanders “just might give Hillary Clinton the shock of her life,” as is customary in these kinds of stories. Sanders is drawing a steady quarter-to-a-third of the vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, pulling within 10 points of Clinton in some New Hampshire polls. Some Clinton aides have begun floating the notion that she could lose one or both of those early-voting states, though this seems like an attempt to lower expectations. But Clinton is still the favorite of Democratic voters nationally by nearly 30 points. She has the money, she has the endorsements from the party elite, and she has the massive teams of staff and advisers.
But Bernie Sanders has one thing Hillary Clinton doesn’t: an ideology.
Labor gives Sanders rousing reception:
Bernie Sanders wowed the audience at at a labor union conference Tuesday, calling them “brothers and sisters” and vowing to push an agenda they’ll like.
“A strong middle class is synonymous with a strong trade union movement,” the Vermont U.S. senator told the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Business Agents conference at a Washington hotel.
The Democratic presidential candidate vowed a “political revolution” that says to billionaires “you can’t have it all.” He pledged to push a “major federal jobs program that puts millions of people back to work.” He’d have the government invest $1 trillion over five years to modernize the nation’s infrastructure.
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After the speeches, Joseph Sellers, union general president, said Sanders was “fantastic.” He also had kind words for Clinton, saying she too has a history of support.
Any endorsement, Sellers said, “will take some time.”
Is Bernie The Best Choice For The Environment?:
Could Bernie Sanders be our best hope to save the planet from catastrophic climate change by leading a clean energy revolution in the United States? The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, whose populist message has been drawing big crowds across the country, is gaining on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. On Sunday, the Clinton campaign announced her plan to combat climate change. The following day, in an email to supporters, Sanders laid out the problem and solution. Sanders put the climate crisis in stark terms: “The scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, is caused by human activity, and is already bringing catastrophic damage to our planet. Yet, the Republican Party is prepared to reject science in order to gain campaign contributions from the Koch brothers, Big Energy companies and others who make billions on fossil fuels. If we do not act boldly on climate change, the planet we leave to our grandchildren may be uninhabitable.”
And how would a Sanders administration tackle global warming? Again, from the campaign email: “The United States must lead the world in reversing climate change and make certain that this planet is habitable for our children and grandchildren. We must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energies. Millions of homes and buildings need to be weatherized, our transportation system needs to be energy efficient and we need to greatly accelerate the progress we are already seeing in wind, solar, geothermal and other forms of sustainable energy. Transforming our energy system will not only protect the environment, it will create good-paying jobs.”
So would Sanders be a climate champion in the White House or is all this climate talk just politicking for the environmental vote? The independent Vermont senator’s voting record clearly demonstrates a strong commitment to addressing man-made global warming. The self-described democratic socialist was recently ranked by new Super PAC Climate Hawks Vote as the most climate-friendly senator in the 113th Congress that ended in January. In 2013, Sanders introduced the Climate Protection Act with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to tax carbon and methane emissions. And in 2007, Sanders co-authored with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) the Green Jobs Act. The measure, which passed as part of a larger energy bill, trains workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The bottom line is that, while Sanders is certainly more progressive than Clinton on many issues, they both bring solid environmental credentials to the presidential race. But how then can Sanders separate himself from Clinton?
One potential pathway is to discuss his consistent and vocal opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline while contrasting his anti-KXL stance with Clinton, who has not taken a position on the controversial project
Read more: Is Bernie Sanders our best defense against climate change? | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
Reddit as a campaign tool:
For those that don't know, Reddit is a popular website community and social platform where registered users (which can really be anyone on the Internet) post and share links, comments and questions. Posts are then ranked up or down by the site's users, which helps measure the popularity of particular post. There are also "subreddits" which are communities for more focused and targeted conversation. For example, in the "news" subreddit, users only discuss and share news.
The site, which is known for its sparse layout, relies on the conversation and sharing if its users. For a long time, outsiders thought the site was intended for more niche audiences within the Internet community.
But times have changed, and with 172 million active monthly users and growing, politicians have taken notice. In 2012, President Obama participated in his first Reddit AMA, short for "Ask Me Anything," where users were allowed to ask the President anything. For example: "What's the recipe for the White House's beer?"
Other politicians followed suit, namely Sanders. Unlike his contenders in the 2016 race, Sanders holds a unique and grassroots following on the site, more than any one else in the 2016 race. According to Reddit spokeswoman Ashley Dawson, Sanders is among the most active on the site, conducting his own Reddit AMA to 8,593,027 subscribers shortly after announcing his run for the presidency, engaging directly with users about his candidacy.
Sanders speaks on Planned Parenthood:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted Senate Republicans Wednesday for working to defund Planned Parenthood, calling it "an attack on women's health."
“The current attempt to discredit Planned Parenthood is part of a long-term smear campaign by people who want to deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies," Sanders said in a statement.
Republicans unveiled legislation to defund Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fast-tracked the legislation the same day. If the Senate votes on a procedural motion to advance the bill, it could get a final vote before lawmakers leave for August recess.
Here come the house party headlines:
Senator Bernie Sanders told supporters they were making history as he live-streamed from a modest, packed, and steamy apartment in Washington, D.C Wednesday night.
Delivering remarks off a yellow legal pad balanced precariously on a wobbly music stand, Sanders said no campaign has ever held such a large online organizing effort so early on in the campaign.
“The American people are saying loudly and clearly enough is enough,” he said.
The Democratic Presidential hopeful hit the major themes of his campaign, such as income inequality, raising the minimum wage, and campaign finance reform. But just weeks after the Senator’s speech at a progressive event was interrupted by “Black Lives Matter” protestors, he stressed the need to “combat institutional racism in America” and criminal justice reform.
“We are tired of seeing black women yanked out of a car thrown to the ground. Assaulted, put in handcuffs and then sent to jail and die three days later in the case of Sandra Bland. For what crime? She didn’t signal.”
After thanking supporters for “for participating in this political revolution,” he handed over the event to a digital organizer to provide viewers with instructions on how to get involved.
The Vermont Independent’s campaign says over 100,000 people signed up to attend one of 3,500 gatherings across the country.
Brooklyn:
More than 100 supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ bid for president gathered in Die Koelner Bierhalle in Park Slope to network and view a livestream message from the upstart candidate—one of at least a dozen such gatherings across the borough where the socialist lawmaker was born and raised. The crowd filling the dimly-lit German style tavern’s wooden benches was predominantly white, with a sprinkling of diversity, mostly trendy-looking millenials that included a small gray-haired delegation from Mr. Sanders’ Brooklyn. An hour before the televised address was scheduled to start, the expansive space burbled with the sound of support for the rival of former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and for his unvarnished populist platform.
“It just seems like he’s a real person in politics, and everyone else feels like a politician. I just think like I’ve been waiting for this, a cause to be involved in and someone to take a real honest approach to the problems plaguing this country and holding the top one percent accountable,” said Sean Millroy, a 23-year-old aspiring songwriter living in Crown Heights, who last voted for ex-New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson on the Libertarian line for president in 2012.
Sitting next to him was another Crown Heights resident, 20-year-old Anwar Munroe, one of a handful of African-Americans in attendance. “This is someone who could change the country for people like me,” he told the Observer, raising concerns about both his future job prospects after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and about the nation’s growing ethnic tensions. “He talks about things a lot like youth unemployment, and especially, he talks about the race relations. And when I hear him talk about the economic issues, I think it’s important to rally behind him.”
Fort Worth:
Lauren McCauley has already made her pick.
The race for the White House doesn’t begin in earnest until next year, but she is backing Bernie Sanders, a long-shot candidate trying to spark a political revolution.
“I find it very refreshing to have a candidate who I feel speaks for the middle class,” said McCauley, 31, of Fort Worth. “He has a long history of supporting women’s rights and gay rights.
“He seems like the only no-bulls--- candidate in the race.”
McCauley was among more than 100 Sanders supporters who showed up at the Shipping & Receiving Bar on Wednesday night as part of the fiery 73-year-old’s nationwide day of campaigning.
The Vermont senator — an independent in Congress who is running as a Democrat for president — hopes to disrupt front-runner Hillary Clinton’s plans to finally claim the Democratic nomination.
“Enough is enough,” Sanders said. “No, it is not acceptable that the rich get richer and everybody else gets poorer.”
He live-streamed his message to thousands of gatherings in bars, restaurants, homes and coffee shops nationwide, including at the S&R Bar on Calhoun Street in Fort Worth.
“He’s the only candidate that’s not bought,” said Mike Jeffcoat, a campaign volunteer who helped organize the gathering here Wednesday night.
From TIME:
“Tonight is a historical night and all of us are making history,” Sanders said at the event, reading his notes from a music stand. “Why are we seeing spontaneous uprisings if you like and meetings in cities and town all over this country? My answer is the American people are saying loudly and clearly, enough is enough.”
During an abbreviated version of his standard stump speech in which the Democratic presidential hopeful pointed to wealth inequality and racial injustice, Sanders also pointed to the massive size of the event he was hosting.
More than 100,000 people had RSVPed to participate in some 3,500 parties in houses, living rooms and coffee shops, Sanders’ campaign said on Wednesday night, making it the biggest online organizing event of the 2016 campaign. The large turnout Wednesday is an important part of Sanders’ plan to build enthusiasm among the Democratic party’s base.
“Bernie Sanders alone as president of these United States is not going to solve all these problems,” Sanders said. “The only way we take on the Koch brothers and take on the billionaire class, and people who have unbelievable money and power, the only we can do that is when we put together a strong grassroots movement of millions and millions of people.”
“And that is what I mean by political revolution, and that is what you are involved in today,” he added, looking into the camera.
Sonoma County:
Don Bates came to Bernie Sanders’ online roadshow Wednesday night in Sebastopol out of curiosity over the septuagenarian socialist who is running a long-shot campaign for president.
“We’re political types of people,” said Bates, a Graton-area resident. “We like to check out the candidates.”
But his wife, Sarah, said she is “absolutely” on board with the Vermont senator who lags far behind Hillary Clinton in the polls but has already flexed considerable online fundraising muscle with the primary elections a half-year away.
They were in a crowd of about 180 people, young and old, who showed up at the Sebastopol Grange for one of the more than 3,500 “Bernie 2016 organizing kickoff” events held Wednesday night from coast to coast.
Denton, TX:
resident Barack Obama in 2008 was the first presidential candidate to engage a national audience with social media and web chats, hosting virtual campaign rallies using the networking power of the Internet. Wednesday night, Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, was “live” in Denton, rallying voters for a national grassroots campaign for the Oval Office.
Sanders, who has positioned himself as the anti-establishment candidate, spoke before an estimated 100,000 people at parties hosted in bars, libraries and coffee shops across the United States to push voters to spread his grassroots message.
Attendees Wednesday night were asked to text “Work” to 82623 for instructions on how to share the grassroots effort, what Sanders is calling a political revolution.
Keeping with local tradition, Denton Sanders supporters were hosted by Hailey’s Club, organized by Matthew Proctor, director of Denton for Bernie Sanders.
“We gave trillions to Wall Street, and what did they give us?” Proctor said, warming the full crowd before Sanders spoke. “We got a big ‘thank you’ and then a big middle finger behind it.
North Carolina:
About 150 showed up at Carrboro Town Commons, to experience Sanders on a on a small screen and a humble PA system.
The event was organized by Robert Roskind, owner of The Oasis coffee-and-tea shop at Carr Mill Mall. He talked about what attracted him to the presidential campaign of the Democratic Socialist from Vermont.
“I’ve been watching Bernie for a couple of years, and I just realized, this is an honest man who hasn’t sold his soul,” said Roskind “He hasn’t taken big money from corporations and donors, so he can point to the system and all its corruption, and say this needs to change.”
West Hartford:
Sanders has tapped a deep-seated economic disenchantment among some liberals that took root during the financial crisis, flowered during the Occupy movement and continues with the current debate over a sweeping trade agreement that critics say could lead to a loss of U.S. jobs.
"He will push Hillary to the left or at the very least force her to address issues she might not otherwise address,'' said Ronald C. Schurin, a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. "The big example right now is the trade agreement."
Schurin said he "wouldn't be terribly surprised" if Sanders does well in Democratic primaries, especially in some smaller states. "He's generating a lot more enthusiasm than Hillary is,'' he said.
Count Harrison Walsh of West Hartford among the enthused.
"The issue of global warming is something I really care about and Sen. Sanders has been very progressive in putting together policies that counteract climate change,'' said the 18-year-old, who graduated from Watkinson School in June and will attended McGill University in the fall. "It's the single greatest threat that faces us as a species."
Alabama:
John Carroll Meehan has volunteered on presidential campaigns for 40 years, but he said none have matched the enthusiasm that independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is generating.
"I have never seen a campaign as exciting as this," said Meehan, a 59-year-old Ensley resident who was among several dozen Sanders admirers who gathered at Buck Mulligan's in Birmingham on Wednesday to hear the presidential candidate live stream a message to supporters. "I think Bernie Sanders represents change that is really needed here in this country and I think he has livened up America. I think the movement is building up and it's building up right here in Alabama."
The Birmingham event was one of 3,500 scattered across the country, including 16 in Alabama, organized by the Sanders campaign to energize supporters and encourage them to enlist more volunteers for the Vermont senator's surging campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
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Meehan, who is unemployed, said he agrees with Sanders' platform of creating well-paying jobs, a single-payer healthcare system and free college tuition. "It's about trying to do something that has to do with... addressing the real problems of the poor in this country," he said.
Roanoke:
Again and again, people spoke of feeling disillusioned with politics and weary of being urged to vote for the lesser of two evils at the ballot box.
Patrick Newlun, a former Marine, talked about his struggles to find a job and said he was tired of big corporations running the country.
“It really upsets me that the American dream that people have fought for has been sold off to businesses with more money than they can even use,” said Newlun, 35, of Roanoke. “To me, that is unfair and is not my idea of the America that I served.”
Wertz, who described himself as a political progressive, said afterward some of the stories shared nearly moved him to tears.
“I’ve never heard that level of sincerity and honesty about politics,” he said.
Other local gatherings for Sanders were held Wednesday night in Salem, Blacksburg, Franklin County and Floyd County, according to an event website.
Supporters were urged to volunteer and raise awareness about the campaign. In a new CNN poll on Sunday, 24 percent of registered voters had a favorable view of Sanders. But 38 percent had never heard of him.