Saturday, April 9, 2016
With a victory at the Wyoming caucuses Saturday afternoon, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) extended his winning streak to eight of the last nine Democratic presidential contests.
Sanders won 55.7 percent of the vote, while former secretary of state Hillary Clinton took 44.3 percent.
According to press reports, the Vermont independent was campaigning at New York’s LaGuardia Community College in Queens when his wife, Jane Sanders, interrupted a speech to share the news.
“Alright, news bulletin,” he told a cheering crowd. “We just won Wyoming.”
Only 14 delegates were at stake in the country’s least populous state. Though Sanders won by more than 11 percent of the vote, it appeared that he and Clinton would split Wyoming’s delegates — seven apiece.
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Friday, April 8, 2016
By Friday evening, more than 3,000 had signed.
“It’s been pretty incredible the number of people,” said James Haslam, the group’s executive director. “People were just fundamentally upset.”
The letter specifically targets four Vermont superdelegates who have said they plan to vote for Clinton at the convention: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Gov. Peter Shumlin, former governor Howard Dean and Democratic National Committee member Billi Gosh. It notes that Sanders defeated Clinton 86.1 to 13.6 percent in the state’s Democratic primary.
“Vermonters are disappointed that, despite our popular support for Sen. Sanders, in your capacity as superdelegates, you continue to pledge your support for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton,” it reads. “We call on you, to [honor] democracy in action by casting your superdelegate vote for our fellow Vermonter Bernie Sanders.”
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Immediately after debating former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Brooklyn next Thursday, he’ll hop off the campaign trail to speak at a conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Sanders’ campaign announced Friday morning. New York’s primary, in which 291 delegates are at stake, is scheduled for the following Tuesday.
“I am delighted to have been invited by the Vatican to a meeting on restoring social justice and environmental sustainability to the world economy,” Sanders said in a written statement. “Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome ‘the globalization of indifference’ in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment. That is our challenge in the United States and in the world.”
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Thursday, April 7, 2016
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the former mayor of Newark and a potential vice presidential pick, is scheduled to headline a reception May 2 at the Burlington home of Sarah Muyskens and Michael Green. According to Leahy aide Carolyn Dwyer, the senators plan to “promote their work on criminal justice reform” while collecting cash for Leahy’s eighth Senate campaign.
“There is no question Sen. Leahy’s leadership in the fight to secure a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee makes him a target for the conservative super PACs that have already spent over $2.5 million on the New Hampshire Senate race,” Dwyer says, referring to her boss’ role as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Sen. Leahy has never taken an election for granted and will raise the resources necessary to respond to whatever his opponents and the conservative groups throw his way.”
Hosts of the reception include many members of Chittenden County’s political elite, according to an invitation obtained by Seven Days: Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan, Rep. Mary Sullivan (D-Burlington), City Councilor Karen Paul, former gubernatorial chief of staff Liz Miller and former Vermont Democratic Party chair Jake Perkinson among them. The suggested donation is $100 to $250 per guest.
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Monday, April 4, 2016
The two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination will face off April 14 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard — their first engagement in more than a month. CNN, which first reported the agreement, will host the debate with NY1.
The setting is significant for both candidates: Sanders was born in Brooklyn, while Clinton runs her campaign out of the borough and represented New York for eight years in the U.S. Senate.
Since last Monday, the Sanders and Clinton campaigns have been squabbling over when and where to stage the event, which was agreed to in principle in January. Sanders had hoped it would take place on one of four days prior to the 14th, because he had scheduled a rally that night in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
The western United States went big for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday.
Sanders defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton 73 percent to 27 percent in Washington State, where 101 delegates were on the line.
He bested her by similarly large margins in Hawaii, 70 percent to 30 percent, and in Alaska, 82 percent to 18 percent. In those smaller states, the Democratic presidential candidates were competing for 25 and 16 delegates, respectively.
Speaking Saturday in Madison, Wis., Sanders said he was "on a path toward victory."
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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
After losing five states in a single night last week, Sanders needed to notch some wins Tuesday — and he did: Utah and Idaho voted nearly 4-to-1 in his favor. With 11 pledged delegates left to be apportioned in those two states by Wednesday morning, Sanders was leading Clinton there by a margin of 35 delegates to 10.
Despite campaigning hard in Arizona during the past week, Sanders lost that state by a margin of 58 to 40 percent. Clinton was on track to pick up at least 41 delegates there to Sanders' 22, with 12 yet to be apportioned.
In a statement released early Wednesday morning, Sanders said he was "enormously grateful" for the "tremendous voter turnouts" that led to his victories in Utah and Idaho.
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Monday, March 21, 2016
Leahy and Welch were among 30 members of Congress who joined Obama on the historic visit — the first time a U.S. president has visited Cuba since Vermonter Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
Both Leahy and Welch have been to Cuba before — Leahy seven times and Welch twice, they said in a conference call with Vermont media. They are scheduled to return to the United States on Tuesday.
“The fact that the two presidents are meeting is extremely important,” Leahy said, of Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, who met for a press conference Tuesday afternoon and a state dinner Tuesday night.
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Sunday, March 20, 2016
Though the February filings are already out of date, they paint a picture of just how much money flowed through the campaigns as the two candidates competed in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. They also show that, despite Sanders' fundraising advantage, Clinton entered March with more money in the bank than he did: $30.8 million to his $17.2 million.
According to his filing, Sanders raised $43.5 million in February, bringing his total campaign haul to $136.6 million. The senator from Vermont spent $40.9 million that month and has dropped $120.9 million since launching his campaign last April.
For her part, Clinton raised $29.5 million in February and $145 million throughout her campaign. She spent $31.6 million last month and $123.3 million since the start of her campaign.
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Thursday, March 17, 2016
Sanders' bid for the Democratic presidential nomination has always been "an uphill fight," campaign manager Jeff Weaver said late Wednesday during a strategy call with reporters.
But, said senior adviser Tad Devine, "We see a lot of daylight ahead and, you know, green pasture."
As for that 1,139 to 825 pledged-delegate lead that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accrued? That's "really the high water mark for the Clinton campaign," Weaver said.
"We are literally about halfway through the delegate-selection process in terms of the number of delegates," he added. "I don't want to overuse the sports analogies, but [it's] sort of halftime in this process."
"I agree we're at halftime here," Devine said. "We agree that we're behind, but we also think that we're going to win this game, and we're going to finish ahead, and we see a path to get there."
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