In Trump states, Sanders tries to push Democrats to the left on health care
By David Weigel August 26 at 4:17 PM
Excerpts:
In an interview after his three-state Midwestern tour, Sanders said he was formulating an “inside/outside strategy,” attracting as much support as possible from his colleagues while expecting most of them to recoil. It would be up to activists to make single-payer politically possible for the holdouts. In the meantime, as the chair of the Senate Democrats’ political outreach, he would continue to support colleagues in tough races, even if they rejected his bill.
“Is this a litmus test? No, you have to look at where candidates are on many issues,” said Sanders. “But you’re seeing more and more movement toward ‘Medicare for All.’ When the people are saying we need health care for everyone, as more and more Americans come on board, it will become politically possible.”
Republicans, looking hungrily at a 2018 Senate map where 10 incumbent Democrats will compete in states won by Trump, were hoping for a litmus test. But in just two states, West Virginia and North Dakota, are incumbents being challenged by progressives in primaries. Neither challenger is being backed by Sanders.
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Sanders, who chose his Midwest event sites carefully, sees Republicans getting over their skis. In national polling, he’s frequently viewed more favorably than either the president or the Democratic Party itself. Last week, in polls of the three Midwestern states won by Trump, NBC found Sanders’s favorable rating at 58 percent in Michigan, 53 percent in Wisconsin, and 51 percent in Pennsylvania. In each state, the president’s approval rating had tumbled below 40 percent.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/in-trump-states-sanders-tries-to-push-democrats-to-the-left-on-health-care/2017/08/26/37c60af8-8a81-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html
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