Bernie Sanders' Momentum Shows He Can Win

[Purveyor]

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News
07 June 15
readersupportednews.org

It was no surprise when several thousand people packed the waterfront in Burlington, Vermont, for Bernie Sanders’ kick-off rally. “Bernie,” as he is known in Vermont, has been winning political campaigns there for decades. But when the crowds continued in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Minnesota, Democratic party insiders took notice. Concerned Clinton supporters in Iowa started calling campaign officials, warning them that she’d better get out here fast, that the view in the rear view mirror was shrinking, and that Bernie was closing fast.

The first sign that the Sanders campaign had momentum was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Burt Cohen, a former state senator from New Hampshire, said he was amazed when 700 people showed up for an event he helped pull together for Sanders at a church in Portsmouth the day after the formal launch in Burlington. “I’ve been involved in New Hampshire politics for 40 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cohen said. “It was electric, from start to finish.”

Then came Davenport, Iowa. I arrived a few hours early and the organizers were debating how many chairs they would need. They had 500 set up, and decided to tell the host to take down some chairs and they would reset them if they needed them. It turned out that 500 was not enough. The venue was a ballroom on St. Ambrose University.

The room can be divided into three sections. The campaign was using two sections of the room. As the room filled, they first set up the chairs they had taken down, bringing the count back to 500. That was not enough, so the wall divider was removed and another 250 chairs went up. They were soon filled with enthusiastic supporters of Bernie Sanders. Over 100 people couldn’t find a seat. As I moved around the room to get good angles for photographs, I found sections where young people had given up their seats for people who needed them more and were sitting on the floor. The New York Times called the Davenport crowd the largest campaign-organized event in Iowa this year. To give some perspective, two days later Martin O’Malley flew to Davenport following his announcement in Baltimore. He drew 50 people.

The next day, in Muscatine, Iowa, after a rally at a community college drew twice the expected audience of 50, Bernie seemed giddy. “Be amazed at what you saw here,” he said. “I want to win this.” At another event that day, a backyard party in West Branch organized by State Senator Dave Johnson, over 200 people showed up and heard Sanders’ message. West Branch is a town of just over 2,000 people.

Bernie’s Iowa surge continued on Saturday in Iowa City. The event was held in the social hall of the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center. Three hundred people packed the room that was equipped with 200 seats, and another 100 listened to the speech from the hallway and stairs that led to the venue. When Bernie arrived, he shouted his appreciation to those not lucky enough to get into the room. He thanked them for turning out, then went inside to hold a town hall meeting. The Town Hall meeting style has been the chosen format for Sanders. He delivers his remarks and then takes a lot of questions. Many campaigns take a few questions and then off the candidate goes, but even with his tight schedule Sanders took many questions in Iowa City.

more...

http://rimcountrygazette.blogspot.com/2015/06/bernie-sanders-momentum-shows-he-can-win.html

[sabrina 1]

1. There really was never any doubt, except among those who are out of touch with the American people.

I believe Bernie Sanders gave a lot of serious thought, and did a lot of research, before deciding to enter this race.

Since he is very much in touch with the people, I imagine the main focus of his research was whether or not enough of them had become so disillusioned with the status quo that they were ready for someone like him, considered 'unelectable' by the inside DC 'experts'.

Fear of voting for someone they might like, but were afraid could not win, was what caused the dissatisfaction voters feel. Still, it's hard to break a habit especially with the constant reminders they get about 'throwing away your vote'. We all fell for that over the course of many elections.

But those paying close attention over the past few years had to have noticed a change in how voters were reacting.

Bernie had to have looked at the historical jump in Independent registered voters.

The huge numbers of non-voters.

Rather than looking at the base of either party, I believe he was looking at the vast majority of those who could make up HIS base, who clearly won't vote for the status quo, they've already demonstrated that.

And I believe he decided he could win, and I believe he can ...

[JDPriestly]

2. K&R.

[fbc]

3. at his current rate, he will be polling at 99% in around a month.

[JackInGreen]

4. We can keep our fingers crossed

just winning would work for me.

[ms liberty]

5. K&R...n/t

[LWolf]

6. The more people learn about him,

the more momentum he's building.

[brooklynite]

7. Howard Dean had large crowds as well...

...which didn't translate into Caucus votes in Iowa or Primary votes in NH.

[KingCharlemagne]

10. My, aren't you precious? - nt

[brooklynite]

11. You prefer to ignore history?

the OP basically says Bernie can win because he gets large crowds. Getting crowds is relatively easy. Converting those crowds to voters, especially in the Iowa Caucus process require investments of staff time and money that so far I haven't seen Bernie have avsilable.

[KingCharlemagne]

12. Bernie can win because he offers the disenfranchised and marginalized 'hope'. What

does your preferred candidate offer but more of the same tired old politics of triangulation that harms the working class while feathering the nests of the booboisie?

No, I'm referring to your demonstrated proclivity for taunting us all with stories of your wealth and privilege (taking a political tourism junket to Iowa, for Christ's sake, while children are going hungry in this country), while you rub our noses in the fact that we are perpetually on the outside looking in.

That makes you precious.

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

14. Do you have proof of that statement showing the wealth of a DU'er?

[KingCharlemagne]

15. He (or she) has publicly announced it over and over again here and is

quite proud of it, in fact.

I like your screen name, btw.

[Jumpin Jack Flash]

16. So this particular DU'er knows nothing of the poor and the middle class

and is one of those IGMFY people...

Thanks. I like it too

[brooklynite]

17. I guess I am...that's why I supported Elizabeth Warren in 2012...and Alan Grayson in 2008

Because ALL 1%ers are conservative...just like all 99%ers are liberal, right?

I've said before that I have no problem with any Bernie's positions, I just don't see any path by which he wins a national elections; broad-broad "he speaks to the people" responses don't answer that.

And none of the personal slams address my original point; history tells us that getting large rally crowds does not necessarily translate to votes.

[brooklynite]

18. Out of curiosity, how many other people have you slammed for taking a vacation?

[LondonReign2]

13. Sorta like Hillary in '08, huh?

[brooklynite]

19. Not quite...there were those 18 million Democrats who voted for her through the Primary season

...which was pretty much the same amount as the votes Obama got. Dean came in third in Iowa and crashed and burned the next week in New Hampshire.

[PowerToThePeople]

8. Woohoo!

[KingCharlemagne]

9. For the first time in a long time (at least 7 years), I'm starting to get excited about

politics again. Damn you, Bernie!

[Left coast liberal]

20. They love him because he is real and approachable....

Feeling the Bern!