Friday, February 19, 2016
“I do not represent the billionaire class. I do not represent Sheldon Adelson,” he said, referring to the Republican mega-donor and owner of the nearby Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. “I do not represent Wall Street or corporate America.”
Sanders had returned to Nevada two days before the state’s Democratic caucuses for one last dash from Vegas to rural Elko to Reno and back. At the Tropicana’s Trinidad Pavilion, he rallied the troops during a pre-caucus dinner hosted by the Clark County Democratic Party.
“I hope as many people as possible come out and that Nevada shows this country what democracy is about, with a very large turnout,” the senator told the crowd of some 700 Democrats.
In recent weeks, Sanders has erased presidential rival Hillary Clinton’s once-sizable lead in the state, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday showing them in a statistical tie. But unlike Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada has little history as an early nominating state, so fewer voters are aware of the caucuses and the results could be difficult to predict.
“We have to have people show up,” said Joan Kato, Sanders’ Nevada state director. “I think a good turnout will be good for us. Lots of people on the ground are very excited. There’s a lot of energy.”
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Thursday, February 18, 2016
"How many thousands and hundreds of thousands has he employed to make each contract, each building, all that steel, all that concrete, all his employees later on that occupied those buildings?" Presley asked. "Amongst all the candidates running, I think he's the best to take care of the 320 million people that are in America, because he knows how to do that."
Presley revealed his presidential preferences during a wide-ranging interview Thursday morning in front of Captain Diablo's on the Las Vegas Strip. Riding a motorized scooter and sipping a Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boy, the king of rock and roll disclosed that he would also consider supporting himself in Nevada's upcoming presidential caucuses.
"Myself, I would choose me to run as president," said Presley, who also goes by the name of Michael Romero. "I think we should go to the moon. The biggest thing I would do if I was president would [be to] put a hotel on the moon. You could have dune buggies on the moon."
The Las Vegas resident — dressed in a white, sequined jumpsuit, white sneakers and purple-tinted shades — elaborated on the business opportunities he sees in a lunar hotel.
"Being on the moon, you could watch the planet go by — Earth go by. Wouldn't that be a neat scene?" he said. "A hotel honeymoon? Honeymooning on the moon? And instead of having a mirror on the ceiling, like a hotel, you'd have a dome. So you're actually making love to your wife, watching Earth go by. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Tags: Elvis Presley , Donald Trump , Bernie Sanders , Ted Cruz , Marco Rubio , Las Vegas , Nevada caucuses , presidential campaign , senator , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
But according to top supporters of rival Hillary Clinton, Sanders' commitment to blacks is only skin deep. Citing a story published Wednesday by the Daily Beast, they accused the senator of ignoring and dismissing African American Vermonters' concerns during his 25 years in Congress.
"It is disturbing to read that Bernie Sanders has a record of consistently turning his back against the black voters in his very own state of Vermont," South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said in a statement issued Wednesday by the Clinton campaign. "From his state's high incarceration rates to his health care proposal to his disparaging remarks on President Obama — Bernie doesn't get it."
The Daily Beast story leans heavily on critical comments made by Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity executive director Curtiss Reed Jr., who described a 2006 candidates' forum during which Sanders "was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism." Others quoted in the piece, including Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center director Patrick Brown and Brattleboro activist Shela Linton, defended Sanders.
"We are all so proud of him," Brown said.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Ohio governor, who finished second in neighboring New Hampshire, is planning a town-hall-style forum at 11 a.m. Saturday at Colchester High School. It will mark Kasich's second Vermont visit of the campaign.
Kasich was in Vermont in October to raise money for the Vermont Republican Party. This time, he’s here on his own behalf, said Vermont Republican Party chair David Sunderland.
Sunderland said Vermont Republicans do not appear to be of one mind in choosing a candidate in this year’s presidential primary. “I think we’ll see several candidates get substantial support,” he said.
Unlike Democrats, the Republicans do not have unpledged "super delegates." Candidates who receive at least 20 percent of the vote will receive a corresponding percentage of the state's 16 Republican delegates.
Vermont has seen more Republican candidates in person than usual this campaign, Sunderland said. In addition to Kasich, Republicans Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Rand Paul have come to Vermont. Christie and Paul have since dropped out of the race.
The event is free. For more information visit the ticket page or call (603) 232-1133.
Tags: John Kasich , Vermont Republican Party , Donald Trump , Marco Rubio , Rand Paul , Chris Christie , presidential campaign , Image , Web Only
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Vermont’s two U.S. senators chastised their Republican colleagues Saturday night for suggesting that a successor to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia be appointed by the next president, not the current one.
“The Supreme Court of the United States is too important to our democracy for it to be understaffed for partisan reasons,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) soon after Scalia, 79, was confirmed dead at a Texas ranch.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was campaigning for the presidency in Colorado as the news broke, called it the Senate’s constitutional duty to vote on confirmation.
“Let’s get on with it,” he said, according to a top spokesman.
Leahy’s and Sanders’ comments came as a deeply partisan fight broke out in Washington, D.C., over whether a president should nominate and the Senate should confirm a new justice in a presidential election year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and a host of Republican presidential candidates said Saturday that they should not.
“They are certainly ignoring history,” Leahy told Seven Days in an interview Sunday morning.
Tags: Senator , Antonin Scalia , Patrick Leahy , Bernie Sanders , presidential campaign , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 12, 2016
During a PBS debate in Milwaukee, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton competed over who could more effectively reform the nation's immigration and criminal justice systems. Both went out of their way to address the contaminated-water crisis plaguing Flint, Michigan, whose population is majority African-American. And they praised President Barack Obama, who remains an enormously popular figure among South Carolina Democrats.
But on the question of who would be a worthier successor to Obama, fissures quickly emerged. While Clinton characterized herself as the incumbent's rightful heir, Sanders pledged to go further than the president has.
Asked by moderator Judy Woodruff whether they would do more than Obama to improve race relations, Clinton challenged the very premise of the question.
"I think, under President Obama, we have seen a lot of advances," she said, arguing that the country's first black president had "set a great example."
Sanders, on the other hand, claimed that he would "absolutely" improve race relations — by raising taxes on the wealthy and investing that revenue in jobs and education.
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Thursday, February 11, 2016
He helped CBS' Stephen Colbert get "The Late Show" going:
He explained to Colbert how he differs from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump:
He even drank beer and ate boiled peanuts with Colbert. (For that video, click here and skip ahead to 31:48.)
Earlier Wednesday, Sanders took "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley on a tour of the Brooklyn neighborhood in which he was raised:
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Wednesday, February 10, 2016
"But," he added, "I’m not going to New York City to hold a fundraiser on Wall Street. Instead, I’m going to hold a fundraiser right here, right now, across America."
As the television cameras rolled, Sanders called on his loyal horde of small-dollar donors to visit his website and donate $10, $20 or even $50.
"Help up us raise the money we need to take the fight to Nevada, South Carolina, and the states on Super Tuesday," he said, referring to the coming electoral contests in his race for the Democratic presidential nomination. "So, there it is. That’s our fundraiser. Pretty quick."
Lo and behold, Sanders supporters heeded his call. Within 18 hours of the polls closing in New Hampshire, his campaign announced Wednesday afternoon, those supporters had donated $5.2 million — averaging $34 per contribution.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , presidential campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Current results have Sanders beating Clinton 59 percent to 39 percent. His strength transcended geographic and economic lines in the Granite State. Sanders won in virtually every community that has reported so far. He won blue-collar Canaan in the west, trendy Portsmouth on the seacoast, the state capital of Concord, the college town of Plymouth and the White Mountain village of Hart's Location.
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