100,000 people have come to recent Bernie Sanders rallies. How does he do it?

[uhnope]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Washington Post

LOS ANGELES — The massive crowds showing up to hear Bernie Sanders are not the result of pricey ads placed by his presidential campaign — in fact, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont has spent very little to lure people to his rallies.

Instead, the eye-popping turnout is a testament to the power of social media and the promotional abilities of an alchemy of like-minded interests: progressive activists, labor unions and even comedian Sarah Silverman, who took to Twitter on Monday to let her 6.7 million followers know she’d be at a Sanders rally here.

The event at the Los Angeles Sports Arena drew an estimated 27,500 people -- about five times as large as any crowd that’s turned out for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Bernie always seems to be on the right side of history,” Silverman told the boisterous gathering, noting that the 73-year-old was a civil rights activist in the 1960s, supported gay rights in the 1980s and strongly opposed the Iraq war before most other Americans.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-does-bernie-sanders-draw-huge-crowds-to-see-him/2015/08/11/4ae018f8-3fde-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html

[cosmicone]

1. Ron Paul attracted bigger crowds. n/t

[Vincardog]

3. How is Rand Paul doing? What is the largest crowd HRC has had?

[cosmicone]

6. Hillary Clinton is well-known

No one has to go see her.

In a zoo, an addition of a new unusual animal like a panda gets more visitors than the elephants and lions who are known quantities.

[passnobuck]

9. Keep convincing yourself of that. Bernie is a "new" zoo animal?

As if Hillary can get 8,000 in Arizona, or Louisiana, where she would be as "new" a zoo animal compared to those that get elected from those states.

Bernie has backbone and is not afraid to speak his mind about corporations. Hillary, since she needs a few hundred millions from corporations like Citibank, etc... well, not so much will she ever say against any of them.

[elias49]

13. It's called a metaphor, Pass.

No need to get contentious.

[A Simple Game]

14. Thanks I vote your post for laugh of the day.

Most would say she couldn't draw that size crowd because not enough people care.

But...

Maybe she doesn't want crowds that size because she couldn't handle that much money at one time, $2700 x 20,000 = $54,000,000. Then again where could you find that much rubbery chicken if you had to feed them all?

I'm just guessing but I estimate Bernie's take to be $20 x 20,000 = $400,000, mind you that is just a guess.

[artislife]

24. Yup nt

[global1]

15. It Seems That Some Candidates Purposely Book A Small Venue So They Can Say.....

crowds had to use an overflow area. Bottom line is that they still can't match the size of Bernie's crowds - but it sure sounds good when they talk about overflow crowds. How disingenuous and the MSM goes along with it while they shut out Bernie and his historical crowds.

[RichVRichV]

25. Bernie tries to book small venues also.

The problem is the crowds just won't let him do it. He keeps having to upgrade them. How is he supposed to be able to afford to run attack ads when he keeps having to pay for these giant venues? It's not fair!

[LiberalElite]

27. The largest crowd HRC has had that had free admission

was somewhere over 5,000 people in June, the day she announced for the second time, on Roosevelt Island in NYC. I noted at that time that she could potentially have had many more people if the venue weren't a very narrow slip of land surrounded by water. Manhattan is just west of Roosevelt Island and Queens (and Long Island) are nearby to the east. OTOH I'm not aware of big crowds clamoring to get in either, unlike in Bernie Sander's events. (If anyone has valid proof that I'm wrong there, post it.)

[SolutionisSolidarity]

10. When?

[Vincardog]

2. He does it by being right on the issues.

[TBF]

4. He tells the truth. nt

[Feeling the Bern]

5. how does he do it? Massive Socialist Communist hypnotic drugging

IF that doesn't work, he threatens to drink the blood of tea bagger babies while worshipping Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Marx and every other boogie man the US Government and right wing has invented since the Palmer Raids

[MuseRider]

8. And old

Nader voters. LOL

[A Simple Game]

16. Now I know you're kidding, tea baggers are too old to have babies! n/t

[JackInGreen]

29. ....

[SunSeeker]

7. This is political analysis, not LBN. nt

[OakCliffDem]

11. How does Bernie do it? Easy - he is the superior candidate n/t

[Plucketeer]

12. I've been calling this a "phenomenon".

But I'm coming to think it's more correct to call it the NEW OCCUPY. Occupy was a great thing in itself. And it DID demonstrate the power of social media (hey - this 70-year old participated via social media at the time!)as well as awaken many to the injustices against our populace.

What was frustrating about the Occupy movement was the determined avoidance of a leader, or spokesperson. Yeah, it was all-inclusive and the like, but that's only so good to a point. There HAS TO be a voice. There has to be someone who speaks for/of the masses that participate. Staying mute just didn't work in the long run. There hasn't been a mass and consequential event in history that didn't have a leader - think of all the conflicts and contests.

The new Occupy has a voice - a clear and consistent one, no less. And as this voice (focal point, if you will) moves around the nation, The People will see to it that it sings over and above the fray of idiocy. The ugly and vicious fray of idiocy that threatens to consume us all unless WE stand behind our intelligent, benevolent, unflinchingly selfless leader.

How's that line go - "The people, united, will never be defeated!" This is it folks! Personally, I'm not hoping for a "Second Coming". I'm not looking to be "saved" by some mythical sky god. No, I'm looking for a Sanders administration where we all get saved. Even the Morans will be saved - whether they like it or not.

[MisterP]

17. probably "personal narrative"

[onehandle]

18. President Nader had tens of thousands at his rallies too. nt

[passnobuck]

19. Those 100,000 live bodies threaten Hillary supporters like Trump...

threatens 16 other Republican politicians running for president.

Bernie's shaking up the "inevitiable" first woman ever presidential election, just as Fox News and the "establishment" Republicans are shaken-up by Trump on their stage.

Few Hillary supporters can find a reason why Bernie should not be leading in the actual in-person rallies, as he is.

Instead, they claim we "already know" Hillary, so she doesn't need to face these massive crowds in Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana and give her speeches.

Bernie troubles Democratic voters for Hillary as Obama did in 2008.

I'll vote for Hillary if she gets there, (voting otherwise is suicide), but she has to earn it through some hard work, some actual rallies where support for her is obvious, and I think that Hillary supporters are getting a bit nervous. They think Bernie cannot win against a Republican, but have they really looked at the stupidity on the Republican presidential candidates' stage?

[erronis]

20. Hillary needs to earn it by showing her record on these issues and

issuing clear statements about her policies.

She now needs to contend with a couple of real candidates (excluding Webb) that are putting topics forward for consideration.

So far I haven't seen her respond with anything other than "When I am President" I will do the right thing. I have a waffle iron that gets far less use than hers.

[passnobuck]

22. L O L !!!

The problem is that she CANNOT have "clear statements about her policies" right now, she needs a few hundred million more in campaign funds, (the Hillary folks think), in order to get there.

Take the Keystone pipeline, for example, or something as simple as the TPP.

Regulation of banks, mortgage companies, investment arms of banks, insurance companies, offshore drilling, arctic drilling, Puerto Rico's debt problem, police retraining, relations with Russia, China, Greece, fracking for natural gas.

Got any "clear policy statements" on those issues from Hillary?

I thought not. Is she running for president, by now, really?

[Historic NY]

21. I don't know but the body count is mystifying it keeps rising..

by the tens of thousands at every new posting.....its still not reflecting in the polls.

[passnobuck]

23. Not "reflecting in the polls"?

According to PBS, Bernie Sanders is "gaining against Clinton in early polls." Salon's Bill Curry believes "Hillary Clinton is going lose," primarily because millions of voters longing for a truly progressive candidate will nominate Sanders. POLITICO explained recently that Early-state polls hint at a Bernie Sanders surge, a headline that was unthinkable only several months earlier. Yahoo's Meredith Shiner calls Sanders a "progressive social media star and pragmatic legislator" and states that "Sanders also has a much more substantial legislative history" than any GOP challenger. In Iowa, 1,100 people packed a gym to hear Bernie Sanders speak in May.

In contrast, Team Hillary had an intimate business roundtable discussion with five "ordinary" Iowans. The only problem was that according to The Washington Post, "All five were selected to attend her events." In fact, Clinton's "staged roundtables" were attended by a total of 13 Iowans, picked by either the campaign or the host.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/its-official-bernie-sande_b_7660226.html

[840high]

26. People appreciate truth and honesty. In

fact we're hungry for it.

[Dustlawyer]

28. Many people are just sick and tired of the corruption. They have become so open and brazen

about the campaign money and citizen United, everyone knows our government has been up for sale for a long time, but now they see us lied into wars that killed so many and costs us so much to this day. We watched them send our jobs away and try to take away our safety net, when for a growing number of Americans that safety net is all they have.
The people pushing for other candidates probably haven't lost a job yet or had a serious health issue in their family. Too many Americans have and that is who is voting for Bernie too!

[DonViejo]

30. Locking...

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