Turning Democrats from Hillary to Bernie.
Four of us Democrats set up a table for registration and immigration issues at a fiesta in the small hamlet of Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County yesterday, Saturday May 9th. The town sits on the edge of the Guadalupe Dunes, where famously Cecil DeMille filmed his spectacular, "The Ten Commandments".
http://dunescenter.org/visit-the-dunes/dunes-center/exhibits-and-activities-research/the-lost-city-of-demille/.
The town is mainly populated by the Mexican farm workers and their descendants who worked on and many still work on the surrounding miles of fields of produce. My fellow Democrats were all Hillary supporters. I believe by the end of the day I had converted them to Bernie supporters or at least to look at him as a serious candidate.
Anti-Bernie point #1. He doesn't have a chance because he doesn't have the big donors. I pointed out that in his first five days after his announcement that he had raised 3 million dollars and 175,000 volunteers. That left them speechless until one Hillary supporter admitted that it was impressive.
Anti-Bernie point #2. He doesn't have the Washington experience Hillary does. I answered. He's been in the Senate for almost two terms, in the House of Representatives for sixteen years and was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont before that. The only experience Hillary has that he doesn't is being First Lady.
Anti-Bernie point #3. He has that Dennis Kucinich factor. I quoted Thom Hartmann on this. Thom said that the difference between Dennis and Bernie is that when reporters asked Dennis Kucinich if he believed in UFOs, Dennis said, yes. Bernie would say that the people aren't interested in his opinion of UFOs. They are interested in their jobs, in Social Security, putting food on the table and educating their kids, so ask him questions about those things.
Then the other woman in our group said she wanted a woman President to which even one of the men replied that other women could be President besides Hillary so it didn't have to be her turn and then admitted he was bothered about the dynasty question of another Clinton in the White House. Then everyone agreed that there should be other candidates challenging Hillary and bringing her to the debate.
All in all I think I did well. I have no problem argueing down right wingers because facts will usually shut them up but other Democrats are harder to argue with, but it seems that our party spreads disinformation too.
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I'm a fan of Dennis Kucinich but he could get sidetracked. As we know, MSM's job is to sidetrack a candidate...to bring up and throw a candidate off guard with a "Gotcha" moment. Bernie won't allow that. He knows his issues and he's had years of practice in his appearances on Thom's "Breakfast with Bernie" segments and his political experience in Vermont Govt. and the Senate. He's no push over for a "Gotcha" and and doesn't suffer fools gladly.
This: 
Anti-Bernie point #3. He has that Dennis Kucinich factor.
We have spoken before of some of the similarities of our two neighborhoods, here there are many people that simply do not vote because no politicians ever speak of issues that concern them, they are not middle class suburbanites, or gentrified city dwellers.
They are mostly below the radar and are well aware that the party has left the struggling work force, those that do not make upper middle class wages. They see no champions in the Republicans either, they simply see no champions at all and are too tired from work (if they can find it) and stress from not being able to keep up with bills that increase even as their wages stagnate. Most of them no longer vote except for mayor and other local races that affect them directly.
At least half of the older people I talk to were once blue collar Democrats (middle aged), but abandoned the party after the party abandoned them and all the factories began shutting down leaving them with only service jobs that do not pay the bills. They are eager, not just wiling, to come back to the party and begin voting again just to vote for Bernie in the primary because he reminds them of a party that once fought for them rather than the white shirted managers and titans of business that have been the Democratic target constituency of late. I gave out registration forms for 18 such people and have to go get more 
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Others I talk to are young people that have never felt a party existed that represents them and think (rightly) that when our pols talk about helping the middle class, they are talking about those that live in much nicer neighborhoods with picket fences and multiple 30 to 40 thousand dollar vehicles, they are the most apathetic that I speak with, but are smarter than people think, most already know of both Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, and surprisingly (to me) a number of them are trying with little success to access higher education, the best they tend to do is Community College, but are trying like hell not to be poor for the rest of their lives, they hear about Bernie and Elizabeth because they have heard their talk about student loans, all but a few want to go on to the state colleges and do not see how they can afford it. I don't need to get them registration forms, they have been getting them on their own
The older people, the disabled, and those without work are also plenty here, the elderly were scared as hell when there was talk about a compromise on SS with Republicans and are convinced both parties want to take their SS from them to invest in wall ST. It is more nuanced than that, but to people that are living on the edge of poverty that count on those checks, the fear is very real, they are already registered (for the most part) but prefer anybody but Clinton because they are convinced she will sell therm out on SS. The disabled have similar fears and appear to be leaning heavily Sanders. The non working, mostly single mothers I talk to are afraid they will lose assistance and don't see any Democrats fighting for them, once I inform them of Bill's end to welfare as we know it, they immediately lose trust in Hillary, and although not big voters (I did get many to vote for Obama in '08 which is hurting my credibility now) I have convinced a handful to try one more time with Bernie because he has a record of speaking and acting on issues that affect the lower classes. They love what he has to say about expanding the safety net, hell, everybody I talk to that is not financially comfortable loves what Bernie is saying, the biggest obstacle I have is that the last time I went around, I sold Obama big time and he ignored them all. There is a credibility problem that arose from his rhetoric that turned out to be empty, people don't want to be fooled again.
I will continue to go out and have discussions and bring material (and links) to show that he has been consistent and is not just saying what they want to hear, if I can get past the trust issues after the '08 attempts, I believe I can deliver most of the neighborhood in the primary, and then of course in the general.
For an experiment I will try to get a ride out to the 'burbs where folks aren't hurting yet to gauge what people think there, my feeling is they will like the white lady that they think is like them, but who knows, maybe some will realize that their comfort will be short lived with another 8 years of attacks on their middle class existence, putting them in the same position as most of my neighbors are now.
It is hard for me, because I don't have portable oxygen and I get out of breath rather quickly due to something called pulmonary hypertension, I will do what I can, and it is working, so many know they have been left behind and do not expect a corporate candidate to do anything but make things worse for them, such people so far have been open to Bernie's ideas and appear to find him an honest and trustworthy individual rather quickly (something about the way he speaks perhaps shows his integrity)
And I admire you. I too hear from people in my neighborhood the major distrust. And I'm almost embarrassed to try to get their hopes up again. But I think that what Bernie has to say really speaks to them. His anger speaks to their anger. I think he will really seal the deal if he has something substantive to say about police violence.
What Bernie is talking about does seem like a fantasy: free college, universal healthcare. He needs to assure people it doesn't mean high taxes. It's already in his platform, he just needs to make it a big point.
They could care less that he's a socialist. I truly think that is a white, older voter. And young people don't care at all. But still can't believe that a politician isn't lying when his lips move. I have a lot more luck with co-workers and higher education levels.
I think there is a growing movement though as you say that hopefully will take everyone by storm. It will take people like you to spread the word. Go slow and don't wear yourself out. We've got a year to get people to the polls.
I plan on doing tables at the VA and library.
But she also had an unremarkable tenure where she pushed things like Keystone, worked on the TPP, and said "We came, we saw, he died (giggling!).
But you can witness it right here on DU.
