Friday, November 13, 2015
Sen. Bernie Sanders departed for Des Moines Friday afternoon for the second Democratic debate of the presidential campaign. Accompanied by an entourage of aides and his wife, Jane, the candidate posed gamely for selfies at Burlington International Airport.
After marching in a Veterans Day parade Wednesday in Lebanon, N.H., Sanders holed up in Burlington Thursday to prepare for the debate, according to senior adviser Tad Devine. He reluctantly participated in debate rehearsals, Devine said, with chief of staff Michaeleen Crowell standing in for former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and consultant Mark Longabaugh playing former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley.
"You know Bernie. He's not a guy to sit around and want to sort of playact this thing," Devine said. "I think he'd be happier to go out and campaign, as opposed to this. But he also understands there's a lot of people watching this. It's a big moment in the campaign."
Indeed, the Saturday night debate at Drake University is Sanders’ last chance to engage Clinton directly before the holiday season begins and potential voters tune out. The Democratic candidates’ next encounter, in Manchester, N.H., is scheduled for six days before Christmas.
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Thursday, November 12, 2015
Calling Sanders "a leader in the fight to protect the public Postal Service," APWU president Mark Dimondstein cited Sanders' opposition to the privatization of the service, his support for six-day delivery and his efforts to keep post offices and mail facilities open.
“We should judge candidates not by their political party, not by what they say, not by what we think they stand for, but by what they do," Dimondstein said in a written statement. "Applying that criterion, Sen. Bernie Sanders stands above all others as a true champion of postal workers and other workers throughout the country. He doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk."
Though Sanders has long championed the labor movement, its leaders have been slow to embrace his presidential campaign. Prior to Thursday's announcement, the 185,000-member National Nurses United had been the sole national union to back his bid. Sanders has drawn support from other local and state unions.
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Sunday, November 8, 2015
The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star returned to SNL to parody Friday's Democratic candidates forum in South Carolina. As he did three weeks ago, David played an irascible, slightly unhinged Sanders — and, of course, he nailed it.
As of this writing, Sanders' presidential campaign hadn't yet sent a fundraising solicitation asking for "vacuum pennies," but we're confident it will soon.
Watch the sketch below (and skip ahead to 4:04 if even a parody of former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley bores you):
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Larry David , Saturday Night Live , Image , Recommended Reading , Video , Web Only
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Speaking at the Columbia Conference Center, state Rep. Terry Alexander (D-Florence) hailed Sanders' participation in the civil rights movement and said the candidate had "fought for the African American community" throughout his political career.
"I'm here because it is clear to me — it is clear to me — that Sen. Sanders is the strongest candidate here for African Americans," Alexander said. "And he will bring about change, not only in the African American community, but he will bring about change in this country that the least of these will have the same opportunity as those 1 percent at the top."
Like Alexander, most of those who stood with Sanders at Saturday's press conference were black. The message was clear: Just because the independent Vermonter represents a state in which 19 out of 20 residents are white does not mean he's incapable of representing the black community.
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Friday, November 6, 2015
Sanders made his case during a friendly, 27-minute exchange with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow onstage at Winthrop University's Byrnes Auditorium in Rock Hill, S.C. Billed as the "First in the South Democratic Forum," the event bore little resemblance to the food fights that have characterized the three Republican presidential debates. Rather, Maddow interviewed the three Democratic candidates — former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, Sanders and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton — sequentially, posing cerebral, policy-focused questions.
Sanders, who has struggled to gain traction in South Carolina, had a lot to prove. Maddow noted that just 8 percent of the state's African American voters supported his candidacy, according to the latest Winthrop Poll, leading her to question whether a senator who represented an overwhelmingly white state could "carry the flag" for black South Carolinians.
"I believe I can," Sanders said. "If you check out my record, you'll find that there are very few members of the Congress who have a stronger record on civil rights than Bernie Sanders has."
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015
At 9 a.m. Sunday — one year before Election Day 2016 — Shutesbury, Mass., resident Peter Corbett will set out from Burlington on his unicycle and start pedaling toward the White House, 550 miles away, in hope of raising money for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, he says. "1 Wheel, 1 Nation, Government 4 All," he's dubbed the effort.
Corbett, 57, a Burlington native, plans to cover 25 miles a day and arrive in D.C. during the first weekend in December. He's hoping to raise money from curious passersby and internet fans, and be joined on the road by people using cars, motorcycles, unicycles, "fast pogo sticks" and whatever else they can use to keep up.
For each $100 he raises, Corbett says, he will put a ping-pong ball into his backpack, which, he hopes, will eventually swell into a ... wait for it ... super pack! Get it? (The Federal Election Commission did not comment on Corbett's plan, probably because we felt too self conscious to call and ask about it.)
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Sunday, November 1, 2015
The 60-second ad, titled "Real Change," is a classic biographical spot, introducing voters to his immigrant roots, his participation in the civil rights movement, his tenure as mayor of Burlington and his role as a family man.
"Husband, father, grandfather," the ad's narrator says as images of Sanders' family fill the screen.
According to Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, the campaign expects to spend more than $2 million airing the ad in Iowa and New Hampshire. NBC's "Meet the Press," which debuted the spot Sunday morning, reported that it will first appear on Tuesday. The Washington Post reported that the $2 million price tag covers a 10-day ad schedule.
"Thousands of Americans have come out to see Bernie speak and we've seen a great response to his message," campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a written statement. "This ad marks the next phase of this campaign. We're bringing that message directly to the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire."
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Friday, October 30, 2015
According to Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, the two met for an hour Thursday at Biden's official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Briggs said in a statement released by Sanders' presidential campaign that the two discussed their shared support for campaign finance reform and expanded public education, among other topics.
“Under the leadership of President Obama and Vice President Biden, this country has come a long way economically since President Bush left office and we were losing 800,000 jobs every month and the world economy was on the brink of financial collapse,” Sanders said in the statement. “Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go to create the kind of economy that works for all Americans and not just the top 1 percent."
Sanders added that he looked forward to working with Obama and Biden "to tackle some [of] the major issues facing our country."
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Thursday, October 29, 2015
But he did tell them that he feels their right to burn — marijuana, that is.
For the first time, the Vermont independent urged the federal government to remove pot from its list of controlled substances, calling such a move "long overdue." Sanders did not go so far as to call for nationwide legalization of marijuana, but he said that states should be free to regulate the drug as they do alcohol and tobacco.
"In the year 2015, it is time for the federal government to allow states to go forward as they best choose," he said. "It is time to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. It is time to end the arrests of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for possessing marijuana."
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
According to the Monmouth University Polling Institute, 65 percent of likely caucus-goers support Clinton, while just 24 percent back Sanders. That 41-point spread is far wider than the single-digit leads Clinton has held in many other recent polls.
“We now have a two-person race, but one of those competitors has just pulled very far ahead,” says Patrick Murray, who runs the Monmouth institute and conducted the poll.
So what accounts for Clinton's surge? The Monmouth poll is among the first conducted after Vice President Joe Biden announced last Wednesday that he'd sit out the 2016 presidential race — and it was almost entirely conducted after Clinton performed well in front of a U.S. House committee hearing on the Benghazi attacks.
But the New York Times's Nate Cohn has another explanation: The poll is flawed.
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